E-male is a pure classic romance novel. It has not any pretence to be anything else if not a light romp. Kory Miles is a geeky guy working as waiter while he is trying to build a successful online dating website. He is so good in his work that the website is a endless source of good matching but there is a problem: no complicated algorithm calculates the best matching, it’s all in Kory’s mind and good sense. Problem is that e-male is also starting to “eat” its owner, Kory has not real private life and he is always worried that no one discovers who is really behind the website. So when he has the chance to sell the website to another company following it as a consultant, it’s a perfect solution. Zac Djorvzac is the owner of a travel agency and he has three rules: No Drama, No Dancing, No Dating. For the owner of a gay travel agency this is like a contradiction in terms, since you can’t have a group of gay men together and not having at least one of the Ds above. When Kory enters Zac’s office with a business proposal Zac never sent to him, Zac thinks the man is another city boy interesting only in partying and “loving”. And it not helps to make him changing his idea that Kory has an impromptu sex session with him on the floor behind the desk.
From a start like this, you would expect for the book to be a sex scene after the other. And this is something that actually I have never found in a Scott&Scott’s novel. Yes, there is sex, and also good sex, but the most important thing is the romance. These partners in work and life write novels that proof to the everyday gay man that also him is allowed to have romance. Since he is also a man, the romance is maybe a bit easier and less flowerily, but it’s not less romantic. Kory believes in true love, it’s the basic rule of his online dating website, but he is also a man who walks around with a condom in the pocket, just in case. Zac is apparently a stoic man, but in the end, he has a behind the should past as party boy.
If the light story and the funny moments weren’t enough to make me like this novel, the multiple references to “Dirty Dancing” and Patrick Swayze as must to seen movie for every respectable gay man and teen girls won me over. The roles between Kory and Zac change abruptly and when they leave for a vacation together to Baytown Beach with Kory’s friends and Zac’s employees (like a school trip among different classes where the main purpose is to gossip and dating), Kory becomes the library/laptop mouse, who hardly leaves his room, and Zac is now the beach boy who knows all the better places and who tries to drag Kory’s out of his shell. The dance lessons in the water or balancing on a rock, remind me too much Dirty Dancing to not love the story.
As I said this is a light story. It’s also maybe a little unrealistic, I can’t really believe that a group of grown men can go back so much to their teen years to consider a beach ball contest the main event of their vacation, but still, the story was nice and romantic, pretty much like a young comedy movie, that type of story that you read to rest and relax.
Amazon: E-Male
Amazon Kindle: E-Male
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When Love Comes Back Around by Lisa Marie DavisThis book can be easily define a sweet romance. The story is pretty classic: small town, two sweetheart lovers, one from the most important family of the town, the other orphaned and raised by a drunk, the rejected of good society. They never should be friends, even less lovers. And to add problem to problem, they are both male.
Caleb is the golden son (even if he has dark hair...) and his father wants for him to be a politician. But when he is 13 years old he meets Royce, new in town after the death of his parents. Royce lives with his uncle, an abusive man, and the friendship with Caleb is his only escape from horror. When they are both 16 years old, friendship becomes loves and for four years they bring along a clandestine relationship. Caleb always swears that they will leave together, after college, they will go where they can claim their love. But when the moment arrives, Caleb cheats out, and Royce goes away alone.
Now after ten years, Royce is again in town, but he has no intention to meet Caleb, since he knows that he still loves the man and he will not survive to another farewell. Instead Caleb wants to see again Royce, even if for few minutes, since his life since their departure was an hell and he needs to be with the man he really loved, and actually the only man, or woman, for him.
The story is not so long, 70 pages, and as I said before, it's almost a sweet romance: there is a lot of talk about love, but not even one sex scene. Both Caleb than Royce treasure their memory, but the reader is not put apart of their thoughts. The story flows smoothly, it's easy to read, but since both characters are 30 years old now, I wouldn't mind a bit of more action. Anyway sometime is refreshing to read a sweet romance, and I'm always fond of the bad boy-good boy next door pair.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/p
Amazon Kindle: When Love Comes Back Around
What Matters Most by Lisa Marie DavisSilas was always a strange boy. He saw imaginary friends, or so he thought. When he was a bit older he understood that what he saw were the souls of dead people who had something other to do before leaving, and they asked to Silas for help. Even if so young Silas knew that it was not normal for him to see souls, and from his parents he didn't have help. Lucky him his paternal grandfather, an old Irish man, taught him about the "sight" and that their family sometime gives birth to a special man like Silas.
To add strangeness to oddity, Silas soon realized that he was gay, and as he never hid the sight, he didn't hide his being gay. For his parents it was too much and Silas found himself alone at a very young age. With only a money help by his father he moved in a new city and began the life of a ordinary clerk, and at the same time he continued to help the souls. Always open in all the aspect of his life, when he became friend, or lover, with another man, Silas didn't hide the spiritual side of his life, and this lead to him being alone, since no one actually believed him. Silas got the fame to be handsome and sexy, but a bit odd.
When he spends a one night adventures with Josh, and the morning after he discovers that the man is very much in the closet and without any intention to come out, Silas tries to go on with his life, but Josh's mother has other idea... the problem is that Sarah, Josh's mother, is a soul and help her in her last wish means reveal to Josh that he can see the souls of the dead.
The story is an odd mix of hanging atmosphere and lustful sex. Silas is almost double faced, one side the cool and serene man who sees souls and calmly helps them, on the other side the man who picks up a man for a one night stand and makes passionate love; these are two side that almost crash, but that in a way melt together to draw up the character. Josh instead is a problematic man, with a abusive father and a weak mother, a grown man with still the mind of a child; sadly he needs an authoritative figure beside him, since alone he would not be able to break free from his father's clutches.
Even if there is sex in this story, it's almost like an ethereal experience... again that hanging feeling; the overall sensation of the story is of a continuous flow of energy, without the up and down that usually characterize a romance. In a way, for a story which deals with souls, it's quite a right sensation.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/p
Amazon Kindle: What Matters Most
Unstoppable Force by Lisa Marie DavisThis book has written "Cinderfella" all over the pages... there is also a fairy godmother in the guise of the very special male escort agency owner who matches Cinderfella alias Pretty Man Cale to Multi-Millionaire Prince Charming Ethan.
So, see, I can't be too hard with this story, since it's all about romance, and I can't not like a romance; doesn't matter if the story is unbelievable, if the cynical in me continued to say that a man like Ethan will never and never fall in love with Cale, I want the romance and I get the romance.
Ethan is a very handsome and very wealthy business man; at the beginning of his career he was a runaway guy with a skill for software and a pretty, even if rough, look. With the help of both his virtue, he manages to warm the bed of a middle age and wealthy man who in exchange, taught to Ethan how to be a successful business man. When the man moved on to another young lover, Ethan was enough skilled and independent to make his own success life. Today Ethan isn't searching for commitment, he likes to play the field, and so he usually buys the service of an escort agency when he is in the mood.
Cale is another runaway boy; escaping from an abusive stepfather who unfortunately taught to Cale that he is only worth for sex, Cale ended in the clutches of a little mafia criminal who, at his eyes, was a big treat. Managing to escape also from him, Cale now is under the shelter of fairy godmother Gwen, who sends him to Ethan. It's a match made in... bed? but Ethan pampers Cale like a prince, trying to instill a bit of confidence in the pretty man (and in this case I mean pretty as beautiful, since Cale is really beautiful even if he doesn't realize it).
A little trouble to resolve the issue of Cale's past does nothing to ruin the fairy tale atmosphere and the obviously path toward an happily ever after; if only life would be so simple...
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/p
Amazon Kindle: Unstoppable Force
Loving Lucas by Lisa Marie DavisTen years before Lucas was a young high school teacher just out of college; he was the classical teacher who liked to be more a friends than a authoritative figure for his students, but he did that without second thoughts. Problem was that one of his student was an unstable teen who probably would need a psychiatric help and instead his family didn't take with the right seriousness the problem. Riley, the student, approached Lucas and when the man refused him, all went to hell: Lucas was raped and left for dead in a burning cabin. He managed to survive and to denounce Riley, but he also lost his life and his lover, who couldn't suffer his scarred body.
Now Lucas has a new life in a little small town where everyone loves him, above all the local sheriff; Nicholas is an handsome man, with plenty of choice if he wants, but he sets his eyes on Lucas. When they met five years before, Lucas was still too traumatized by his past events and he was not ready for something serious, and so Nicholas accepted the second choice to be his best friend. But now Riley is out of prison and both Lucas than Nicholas know that the man will come for Lucas, and Nicholas is not willing to let the man take the most important thing he has, Lucas; since Nicholas has no doubt that Lucas is his own.
The story is not very long and there is not mystery, since it's clear since the beginning that Riley will try to harm Lucas once again. It's more interesting to read and see how Nicholas will convince Lucas to accept not only his help but also his love. Truth be told, I think that Nicholas takes advantage of the situation to force Lucas to accept something than in other condition it will be years before they arrive to the same point. Probably Nicholas is tired to wait (but not enough to renounce) and above all he is tired to be judge by someone else actions. And this is maybe the point that I understood less: it's true that Lucas is scarred, but only on his back; in his everyday life, with dress on, he is a very beautiful man, and no one can notice his scars. All right, being a gay man, maybe having is back all scarred is a bit more important than a straight man (naughty Elisa, I know), but is it enough of a reason to dump someone? Lucas is clever, handsome, with a good work, is it possible that someone dumped him for some scars? And even if it happened, is it possible that he chose 10 years of chastity upon the action of only one man?
Anyway, the story is quite tender and the sex is good, something I noticed in the previous books by the same author: she mixes well the two elements, never letting the sex take the main role in the story, always letting the tenderness and love being in first line.http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/p
Amazon Kindle: Loving Lucas
Amazon: Love Conquers All
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Rase Illion is a forthy something (maybe fifty) multimillionaire business man. He has not made his fortune, he has inherited it, but he was very good in manage and multiple the millions. A friendly ex wife, a son in college, a new trophy wife, he should be the happiest man, and instead he is living an half-life. He always had an inferiority complex with his father, he was never the son his father wanted him to be. First of all he was gay and second he liked to be dominate; when his father discovered it, in the worst way after he finished in hospital due to a too rough scene, Rase again tried to be the perfect son. He married, he had a son to perpetuate the family name, he took care of business family... for thirty years he tried and he was never good enough. Then his father died without giving to Rase the acceptance he craved, and five years later Rase is still in a limbo, not yet realizing that he finally can be what he wants.Gabriel is a young lawyer who lost his work; he makes both ends meet as stockboy for Race's firm and he draws Race's attention when he is found with a pair of cuffs in his pocket. When Rase goes to him in search of relief, Gabriel thinks the man is like all the others, men who believes to buy him, and he unloads on Rase all his hunger. Rase takes all and ask for more; only one night with Gabriel is enough to trigger a series of events that will change Rase's life.
Rase's character is pretty good developed. We know why he acts like he does and what are the reasons for his insecurity and desperate need of love. Even if I can't relate with his need to be hurt, and badly hurt, it's probably something linked with his relationship with his father, some unanswered questions he needs to close like that. Rase is lucky to find someone like Gabriel, someone that care for him enough to hurt him physically, but not to hurt him emotionally.
Gabriel is a strange and interesting character. He is not a main hero in the story, the story is almost all about Rase. And so we have some bits of information on Gabriel, but not all his story. Why he is without work? What happened in his past? Was he really a whore, as he called himself, or was it a metaphoric expression? Why he wanders around with a pair of cuffs in the pocket?
For how much strange it can be sound, I found Uneven a really tender story. Rase is a very good man, someone easily to hurt in his feelings (it's too simple to hurt him in body, he asks for it) and Gabriel seems to understand it, and even before deciding if he wants or not a relationship with the man, he tries to be careful and not to hurt him.
The sex is good, a bit "hard", with a lot of masochism play, so maybe not for all, but as I said before, in someway it's a caring love.
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I'm not new to the "muscle growth" books by Rowan McBride, but everytime I'm in awe at how enthralled they made me. There is something in this play of contraposition, a big strong body that can overshadow another smaller one, but at the same time being a protection against the world... I don't know, I think it's my kink. Actually I have always loved the story where the male partner is bigger than the female one, in het romance it's easy to find, not so much in manlove. With her exaggeration of the muscle growth, and sometime the aid of paranormal events, Rowan McBride makes it possible also in man on man couple, and I drink these stories all at once.This time the author chooses to give almost a possible explanation to the sudden change in shape of both main characters: a flu shot with some unexpected consequences. Nick is the prodigy kid in a big firm, at 27 years old he is already head of his department; Nick is also the perfect boss, sure of his value, he is not worried in share his passion for work with his colleagues, helping them in improving their work. Nick has no problem at work, but it's not the same at a personal level; I think Nick is probably shy, he doesn't see himself as a man with something to give in a relationship, he thinks that his only value lies in how good a job he can do. And so he is blind to people around him searching his attention. Like Riley, the new kid on the blog.
Riley is not much younger than Nick, only 4 years old, but the difference seems bigger since Nick doesn't allow him near than necessary. Looking at Riley, so young and innocent, it's like looking at a mirror, Riley is too similar to Nick and it scares him: if Riley is weak, so is Nick. And then Riley is Nick's subordinate, and nothing between them can happen, no matter how pretty Riley is.
Then the flu shot, and the different reaction it has on Riley, who grows bigger and confident, and Nick, who instead loses height. The small advantage Nick had on Riley, being a little bit older and a little bit taller, disappears and Riley starts to becoming more and more demanding, for attention and maybe something else. And Nick, that wasn't so sure of himself even before, is not forced to face a difficult truth: he desires Riley, and more Riley is big and strong and more Nick wants him.
Before their change in size, I think Nick liked Riley as you can like a pretty pet, but not love. Nick needed and wanted someone different, if not bigger than him in size, at least in age or social status. So maybe Greg, an older colleague to whom Nick always looked as example, could have been the right man. Riley wasn't really that man, he was younger, smaller in body, he gained less money... it's not that Nick is shallow, it's only that he needs a man he can look up to. But Nick has underestimated Riley, the young man is not so simple as he believes, and he has a plan.
I like how complex and interesting both men are, even if probably Nick has the lion share. He comes really out of the page, his little idiosyncrasies, the useless worries, how he can easily influenced by the smallest events. Nick projects an aura of self-assurance, but he is a good liar, he loves so much numbers and statistics since in them he can find that security that he lacks in life, the number doesn't lie, and they are more sure than real life.
And the there is Riley, who seems always so sure, thanks to his physical strength, but who then, in the end, is only a 24 years old guy in love. Actually he is not so different from Nick, and since Nick needs that difference to consider a partner, without the muscle growth, Riley would have never had been a chance. Again, it's not that Nick is shallow, it's a natural thing, like a selection: Nick is searching someone stronger than him to fill a void he feels, the only chance Riley has with him is to fill that void.
One Shot seems apparently an easy and light story, but I think that it's really a psychological study: Nick is so complex and detailed that I had trouble to let him go at the end of the story, I arrived to the last page not wanting to turn it since I knew I wouldn't have had anything more to read.
http://www.loose-id.com/prod-One_Shot-10
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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn
Fortunate Son by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite LabbeFortunate Son has a double meaning. At the beginning of the story I believed that the fortunate son was Ricky; he is the second son of a not so wealthy country family. His older brother died in Vietnam and his parents sold part of the family farm to allow him to go to College and so, avoid to be a conscript. But Ricky is still mourning Randall's loss, and instead of having his mind on the study, he thinks on protest and getting high, since when you are high the world seems better. At college he meets Charlie; Charlie is a lover and an artist, he has all those great ideas in mind and in a way, he directs Ricky's rage in something more useful than sulking. And maybe Charlie is the fortunate son, the one who is against something for principle and not since it touched him like it did with Ricky. Being not so involved, allows Charlie to be a safe harbor for Ricky, allows him to be the steady figure Ricky needs to not drift apart.
Ricky and Charlie are young and sons of their time; being always high, not thinking at tomorrow, but always living the day, they are like a lot of young people in 1967, the year in which the story is setting. But during the March on the Pentagon, Ricky and Charlie start to think that having a tomorrow, and having it together, maybe it would be nice. They can't have a formal recognition of their love, it's so far from their time that the idea doesn't even pass in their mind, but they can have it with words between them; being aware of the world around them, make them more aware of who they are and what they want in life.
This is a really nice short story, 2 sex scenes and a night and a day in the life of two young men; you don't know what it will be of them, but you can have the feeling that they will be together and happy; I like the easy mood of the story, the feeling that, even if they are living in a dangerous period, they are somehow shielded by their love, life seems easy for them and I can see a future behind the corner.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Fo
Amazon Kindle: Fortunate Son
The Mask He Wears by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite LabbeThis is a short story that manages to be unexpected and surprising despite being short. Apparently the plot is simple, Ian has a secret crush on his boss, lawyer Stephen; being Ian his secretary and having the firm a strict no fraternization policy, Ian has never made any move on Stephen if not being always available for him and always with an eager to please smile on his face. Then at a office party, Ian eavesdrops another colleague asking Stephen about his wife, and Ian's world crashes around him.
Here is the unexpected element of the story. Usually the office affairs relationships among men are hot and dirty, little or not so little secret affairs almost always based more on sex than love. But Ian is a romantic soul, he believes in love at first sight and forever love. He wants Stephen, but he doesn't want him only for a passing affair, he wants him as his long term relationship partner, he wants him in full daylight.
On the other hand Stephen has always preferred to maintain his private life exactly like that, private. On the outside Stephen appears to be an independent and strong willed man, but in private he is insecure and not so strong. He always related to his friends advice and he was always willing to help them to resolve their romantic trouble but was never ready to resolve his own. Delay was the key, not facing the issue was the best strategy. Stephen's character is the other surprising element of the story, above all how different he is from what he appears; it's a nice surprise since he gives originality to the story.
If Stephen was one another alpha male boss, who is a boss both in office than in bedroom, this one would have been one another office affair story, nice maybe, but nothing more. Instead both Stephen than Ian are different from who you were expecting, they are both very emotional men, men that probably are not imposing and domineering, but that are lucky enough to find each other and to discover that, despite the difference in social status and career level, they have more in common than they thought.http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ma
Amazon Kindle: The Mask He Wears
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ta
Amazon: Taking Chances
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Passion's Victory by K.C. KendricksMicah is the not so young son of the owner of an important architecture firm. At 34 years old he is already a partner in the firm and owner of the 25% of it. Micah is also gay and out, but he doesn't flaunt his sexuality in respect of his older father and grandfather. And then when he turned 30 he suffered from a strange case of tiredness... he is tired of no strings attach relationships and he is searching for Mr Right. To him, Mr Right is an older man with a domineering behavior... like Jonas. Jonas is the "new" employee of the firm, but he is not "young": 48 years old and with a hidden past, he is handsome and more compelling since he is like a treasure to uncover; and the first mystery is to find if he is straight or not. Micah's gaydar doesn't work well with Jonas... well, if for gaydar you mean his penis' reactions, "it" works very well when Jonas is around, but still Micah doesn't know if the object of his attentions is available. It seems like Jonas build a shield around him.
The story is not too short, 70 pages, but it's really two scenes: the first in which Micah and Jonas play the touch and run game to know each other better, adn the second in which Micah and Jonas consume their relationship. But it's not simple, nor the first or the second scene. Jonas is not an easy character, he has a lot of layers and he is touchy feelings; Micah is walking in a minefield and he has to be very careful to not make Jonas run away. Actually if Micah was not so interested in the man, I don't know if he was worthy of all this patience... But Jonas is worthy, he has suffered a lot in the past, both physically than emotionally, and even if he is the older in the couple, he is now like a newborn baby to feelings, he needs to learn again to trust and love.
Even if different in age, Micah and Jonas are very similar characters, both used to be the master in the relationship, but now they need to compromize if they want to be together. But no one of them has to have the feeling to having lost his masculinity.
This is the second time that I like a K.C. Kendricks' story, but that in the end I'd be glad to have more to read. She builds very well plot and growing tension, there is a firecrack explosion, and then the end... why didn't she tell us more about the morning after? In this story there is a lot to say, a may/december relationship, an office affair, a family in the background ready to make its appearance...
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Pa
Amazon Kindle: Passion's Victory
Surrendered Victory by K.C. KendricksThis is a little discovery: little since it's really short, less than 60 pages, and a discovery since I didn't expect to be so enthralled by the story.
Dalton and Reed are dancing around each other since six weeks. Both in the same business field, construction enterprises, they meet every Friday at the same pub. Some beers together, sometime a dinner, a lot of teasing but not touching. Both are aware that it's not friendship that links them together, but Reed is uncertain on what he wants. He is 33 years old and he is still in the denying phase: he has had his string of girlfriends, to prove that he is the son his father wants, but his relationships always end in a bad way. Now he moved in a new city, far from his father, and maybe he is ready to admit what HE wants, and to do something to make it happens. Dalton seems the right man.
43 years old and divorced, Dalton has long ago admitted that he prefers men. He is not openly out, but he is willing to a bit of flirting and teasing, and maybe, if Reed is willing too, to some playful time together. What Reed nor Dalton are expecting is that in the end, their night together is more involving and not so easy to forget and move on.
Almost all the story is the slight mounting of their excitement during the fatal night: from the light teasing in the pub, to the full bloom of their expectations when they are at Dalton's house. It's a game of reach and fly away. Reed wants and fears, but he takes that final step that brings him in Dalton's embrace, and to an experience he cannot deny for long. But when he makes his mind clear, and reaches for what he wants, he is ready to dive into it with all himself. Maybe Dalton instead is ready for a casual relationship, but a full commitment is not what he is expecting; but he finds it and he needs to deal with the new turn of events.
Sexy, deeply erotic, very graphic in details but not vulgar, this story is a very good reading, fast and enjoyable.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Su
Amazon Kindle: Surrendered Victory
Shining Victory by K.C. KendricksShining Victory is a nice May December novella. Stacy is a 40 years old business man; he has a comfortable life, a good job and a beautiful home, but he is alone. Truth be told, he is not searching hard someone to fill the void: when he was 20 years old Stacy was charged for assaulting a 16 years old boy he was teaching martial arts. Obviously Stacy was innocent, but the experience weighted on him and now he is weary when trusting someone else. Even is consciously Stacy tells to himself that he doesn't need a man near him, all his attitude is for finding that one man.
Even if Stacy is 40 years old, he is still behaving like half his age; he lost that part of his youth and I think he missed it. So when he meets Levi, 25 years old but look younger, it's like a second chance to be young. Levi is all strutting and cocky attitude, and that leads Stacy to believe that he is dealing with someone old enough to have a relationship with. Even if they joke on the age difference, Stacy calling Levi "puppy", and Levi calling Stacy "old man" or "daddy", all in all they seem quite on the same level. There is not strict roles in the relationship, no top or bottom, not daddy / boy game.
Till this moment the novella was nice and enjoyable, but average; it was a good read but it didn't give any particular thrill. I was already filing it in the nice reads, when the author chose to give a shift to it: it comes out that Levi is not so experienced as he appears, that he is not out with his family and that probably Stacy is his first male lover. The balanced roles are now shattered, Stacy is facing his worst fear, to be framed once again of corrupting a young man. And this new side of Levi gives him also a deepness that he was before lacking. Truth, the shift brings back the story to a more ordinary may / december theme, but all in all I prefer it like this.
Overall the story is not so dramatic, the main focus of it is for Stacy and Levi to find a way to rebalance their relationship. The point is that, the age difference is there and it matters. Levi, even if he parades himself around like an independent man, is still a young boy who has not had the chance to grow into a full man. On the other side, Stacy is a grown man who wants to still feel the thrill of a 25 years old man. The two together complete each other and give to both of them the chance to have what they want. I think their is a potential good relationship, even if I wonder what will happen when Levi will realize the power he has on his hand, the power of youth. http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Sh
Amazon Kindle: Shining Victory
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Beautiful Boys is exactly what the title promises, a collection of short stories on young and cute beautiful boys whose main trouble in life is find someone to have a fling with, and obviously hot and naughty sex. Even better if after the sex there is also the romance, and a forever love story, it is always nice to see the pretty boys being happy together.The first story is about Dean, just dumped by his lover, who stubbornly decides to go with the ex on the previously planned holiday in Greece; more than an broken heart, Dean is nursing a frustrating lack of sex, and when he finds on a desert island an handsome, young and naked boy, there is only time enough to ask him the name and they start to have sex right away.
At home, Dean's brother, Neil, has a chronically fear of fate and destiny, and for this reason he doesn't like birthday parties: having someone wish you the best is like calling bad luck. But his co-workers have other idea, and during an impromptu party at Neil's house, they hire a quite clumsy stripper, Jinx, who, accident after accident, causes Neil to break a mirror: seven years of bad luck! but if Jinx is near him to help spending the time, and if they manage to not kill each other with stupid accident, well maybe Neil has found is better luck with the worst lucky man ever.
Jinx's childhood friend and former boyfriend Nathan is happy for his friend, but he is also a bit envious: also him would like to find his dream man, or better he would like for his dream man to realize he is there. Nathan has a crush on his roommate Gage, but the man is straight... or not?
And in the end, Nathan's friend and also Neil's coworker, Andy, is still daily fighting with his colleague Luke: they are both young and talented, and obviously attracted to each other, but instead of steaming off the desire through sex, they feed it with job's competitiveness. They have only to find the right occasion out of a job contest to realize that it's better to use that fire during sex instead.
Dean and Neil's stories are the two with a bit of plot, even if I wouldn't have minded to read something more on Dean and Nico after their first encounter, while I have some info on Dean and his past, Nico seems really to come out from nowhere, he has no past history and I had the feeling he was like a some magical creature born from the sea foam (but don't get me wrong, there is nothing paranormal in the story). Neil's story main focus instead is the bad luck of Neil and the even badder luck of Jink, like a mathematical theory, two negative give a positive and so maybe the two together are perfect. Both Dean and Neil are around thirty years old, and their lover barely twenty, so there is also a bit of may / december feelings in their stories.
The other two couples, Nathan and Gage, and Andy and Luke, are nothing more than a nice sex scene. All four couples together work just fine to give an idea of a bunch of beautiful boys with very few trouble in life, a supporting and happy family environment, where they can continue to live like in a forever beach party.
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Amazon Kindle: Beautiful Boys
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
The starting point of the story is a classical cliche: two men bet on the chance one of them has to seduce someone else in a week. And obviously the one doing the bet falls in love for the intended victim.Reese and Hank have an odd relationship. Reese was a troubled guy, changing foster home with foster home for all his teen years. When he was 17 years old he met Hank, the misfit of the high school; where Reese was tagged "bad boy" for his poor origins, Hank was another type, he was the spoiled brat son of two uncaring and too rich parents. Reese was also struggling with the new found discovery that he was gay and Hank was willing and experienced enough to help him through that knowledge. Even if Reese is apparently a strong and independent man, he is really someone who prefers to be lead by a stronger partner, and he was like that also as a teenager. Hank fulfilled that need, and it was a perfect relationship since on the other hand, Hank needed to be the leader. Where Reese had not a supporting family and strong parents figures to take example from, Hank had not them either, since even if his parents were present, they were almost non existent. Reese and Hank together built an odd family to replace the one they hadn't, and for many years it was a good substitute. But as children do, Reese grew up confident and even if later than other boys, he has now realized that he needs something more and different in his life, and if he sticks with Hank he will never find it.
When Reese accepts one more of the twisted bet he usually does with Hank, in a way it is to add a step more far from him: the money he will gain will serve to pay his way out from Hank's clutches. The man they choose, Jeff, is apparently a shy geek tech guy who works in the same firm of Reese. Even if Reese starts to feel guilty for his actions, he thinks that, if Jeff doesn't know of the bet, no one will suffer from it. But during their night together, Jeff reveals a strong will, a domineering attitude, that pulls some hidden strings inside Reese. Reese realizes that he has probably found the right man for him.
Jeff is a bit of a contradiction: he is apparently shy and nerd type, but he is stronger than expected. Actually he himself doesn't know how strong he is. Jeff's origins are average, not big trauma in his youth other than his stuttering problem that maybe made him shier than the other boy his own age. Then college and a bad relationship that didn't do good to his self-esteem. But again, the hidden strength of Jeff made his first appearance, he moved to another city and to a new life. That same strength serves him right during his first encounter with Reese, since it's this attitude of Jeff that makes him someone special, someone who is able to break the strings that bound Reese to Hank.
With some up and down, the story between Jeff and Reese is good for both of them, they complete each other. Even if I'm happy for them, something inside me prevented to be fully satisfied, since I really felt for Hank. True, he behaves like a spoiled brat to whom someone stole his favorite toy, but there is a moment, when he realized that he was losing Reese for good, that I understood that he was scared. I really hope that the author will take him again for another story, this time the story where also Hank will find the right man for him.
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I think that basically Lex Valentine is an het romance writer, and a good one, and she decided to write a gay romance episode to mount it in a series, Tales of the Darkworld, that again, is basically an het paranormal romance series. The result is good and enjoyable, but clearly aimed to those readers that, before shifting to the gay romance world, enjoyed the classical paranormal romance. I will not be strict, and say "women", since I know there are also men, even if few, who like that genre, but I think that the intake the author has and writes on men, is of a straight man who, for a reason or the other, loves another man, but only that one. Holden, the straight man, is a women's man, but his mate is another man, and the pull of the mating is stronger than his sexual preferences; so Holden is forced to accept Garret as his mate, but this doesn't mean that he stops to like women. Holden has written "gay for you" in his forehead, and the author is very much aware of this subgenre, since she is the first to use, and put in the mouth of her characters, that definition. Holden's family is an ancient dragon clan, black dragons, and Holden and his brothers and sisters reach that age when they have to mate. When Holden meets Garret, thanks to the help of a family friend, from his smell and from the reaction of his body, he soon understands that Garret is his mate. Doesn't matter that Garret is a man, and even less doesn't matter that Garret is a green dragon. The pull of mating goes beyond gender differences and clan old fights. Being Garret a declared bisexual, he has fewer trouble than Holden to accept the unavoidable; and on Holden's side, the first rebuttal reaction is soon forgotten and he is ready to come down to pact.
Holden's behavior is very much what you would expect from a straight man who has to deal with an homosexual relationship; in a way it's like Holden and Garret are forced in an arranged marriage, and their personal preferences don't matter. Holden fears everything he is not able to relate in some way to an het relationship: that his partner can go down to him or that they can have anal sex (with Holden on the giving end), those are things he can understand and accept, but everytime he arrives to the realization that his partner has a penis, he freaks out. But Garret is patient and Holden is like a good little boy who follows the command of his parents, like a virgin maid sent to sacrifice.
The relationship between them starts with Garret letting Holden experiment all the new way they can have sex, and Holden who plays a little the coy virgin girl, refusing to officially "mate" till the moment he is not sure that he can really love Garret, despite the mating bond. Basically Holden wants to understand if, even without the mating pull, he would have been able to find Garret's attractive. Even if they are having a full and very intimate sexual life, Holden doesn't put out, he preserves the "last" virgin territory, till the moment he is not sure of his real feelings for Garret... in a way I find this behavior quite funny, above all since it arrives from a big bad boy like Holden.
The story is a good mix of sex, paranormal and even funny moments (I really like the in dragon form teasing scene, even if they don't arrive to really have sex in shifting form, don't worry). Again, I recommend it to who likes the paranormal genre (all the "mating" related matter...) and my opinion is that it's a story aimed to a female target.
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Daniel is a thirty years old guy like many in New York. He flew from a small town in Wiscounsin hoping to become an actor at Broadway; during high school he was the classical misfit, not actually out as gay but nevertheless the target of those guys who considered themself normal. As often in those cases, losing himself in daydreams was the only way to survive and playing a role on stage was another way to escape reality. In a small town, Daniel's ability to perform was something special, but in New York City he was only one other daydreamer; Daniel left his small town since he didn't fit there, but it's not better in New York City. Young and alone, Daniel was starting towards the path of selling himself, more for being noticed (and having enough to eat) than really for money. Who saved Daniel from that sad destiny, was his makeshift family, full of wonderful characters like Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, all in drags. In his small town, when Daniel thought to himself as gay, he never once imagined himself in drag, but then he realized that it was another way to play a role, on stage, but also in life. On stage Daniel wore glitters and satin, out of the stage he had still a mask. His own was 2Di4, a female impersonator of Lady Diana; and it worked for many years till the day the real Lady D died in a car accident. Daniel was not only playing a role, 2Di4 was also his life, and losing his source of inspiration was like losing again himself. At thirty Daniel is again at the starting point, the last 12 years lost forever. More or less at the same time, he also finds out that his lover Jeremy is cheating on him with a common friend, Robert. So Daniel takes a whole turn on his life: he moves to Hell's Kitchen in a small apartment with a little garden and he spends the summer planting seeds and trees in that garden, another way to delay. At the end of the summer, the garden is a little eden, and Daniel has not yet decided what to do with his life. His friends, mostly drag queens, want for him to perform again, but he has not that in him. He meets Sheila, a young girl coincidentally from his same small town, who is temporarly living with Blaine, another fellow townfolk. Blaine is actually Mr 5.33, the same man Daniel is spying from his garden every day coming home and doing an impromptu and unwilling little striptease for the neighbor. At first Daniel befriends Sheila for the chance to meet Blaine, but then he finds out that he really likes the girl; Sheila's relationship with Blaine is strange, but from the beginning it's clear that it's not love, at least no more. Sheila also convinces Blaine to hire Daniel as Personal Assistant; Daniel has no real skill for the work, but he learns looking at DVD like Working Girl and From 9 to 5. The job allows him to get nearer to Blaine, and to discover some of the man's secrets.
Meanwhile, Daniel's ex, Jeremy, is regretting is choice to leave and wants to come back home to Daniel, and also Jeremy's new lover, Robert, is making a move on Daniel... from not having no one and being dumped, Daniel has now three possible lovers in line. Quite an ego burst. And the real good thing is that now all of the are interesting in Daniel, the real one, and not the face 2Di4 he was on stage. What Daniel didn't do 12 years ago, and what he delayed misguising as a female, he is doing now: he is coming out, from the closet, from the small town, from the dresses he used to hide. He is no more living on the shadow of someone else, replaying on stage her mistakes, Daniel is now doing them all by himself.
Even if there is a nice and tender love story between Daniel and Blaine, the story is mainly focused on Daniel. Blaine is all in all a good character and a nice man. He made some big mistakes in his life, but now he is trying to straighten (no pun inteded) them. Maybe at the very beginning, he is not so straightforward (again, no pun inteded) with Daniel, but it's really a question of few days. After that, he becomes the perfect possible boyfriend, comprehensive and caring, sweet and tender. But still, his character remains quite in second line in comparison to Daniel.
The love story between them is sweet, tender and very normal. A classical office romance, with a little of teasing and nice development. There is not detailed sex, when they do it (and they do it), the author chose the "and afterward..." tactic, means that we leave the characters just before the main course, to rejoin them at the afterward. No bad, the story is funny and light enough to fullfill the gap.
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Gaylife.com is the name of the website where Brian, unemployed thirty something gay guy in Miami ends to work for, but it's also the summa of what the story is the "gay life" of a man who is at that moment in life when he has to take a decision, living forever like a globetrotter, without basis or purpose, or doing something with his life. The time is the late '90, I believe for two reasons: first, the Internet was still enough young that the adventure to launch a gay website could be still something new and original and second, maybe the out and proud movement was not so strong, and some of the events that take place in Brian's life were still possible and common. Brian is not a bad guy; he is average handsome, average clever, average funny... he is average, but a nice type of average. He is still self-conscious enough to not be too much bothered by that, he comes from a supporting family that gave him that security that allowed him to follow his mood: from small town near New York City, to living in New York City itself trying to find his way in the Broadway industry labyrinth, nor good actor enough, nor good director enough, nor good stage manager enough... and truth be told, not interested enough. From New York City he moved to Miami, always living on temporary jobs and mourning the lack of a steady boyfriend, but then bedding the first man he meets on a club without too much second thoughts. Brian tells to himself that he wants a good man, but the first thing he notices on a man is his look; true, he is nice enough to move over it if the man is interesting, but still I believe that he is not so convinced of what he is saying to himself, I don't think that Brian is really ready to set with a man, since, truth be told, he is not yet set with his life.
Then he meets Nick, his new boss at the gay website Nick is launching. Nick is nice and full of idea, but he is quite disorganized; he needs someone who is able to do pretty much everything, someone who is able to adapt, and Brian, with his unspecialized skills is exactly the man: every little trouble Brian has a solution for, calling favors with friends, and bartering others. And at first Brian is doing all of this since he is fallen in love with Nick and he would do everything for him. But Nick has a boyfriend, Paavo, who is model material, for real, and Nick and Paavo seem the perfect gossip gay couple. Brian has no change to be noticed by Nick, and despite his previous experiences as not devoted worker, he is starting to be good at his job.
Meanwhile, Brian is also trying to date, and he goes over all the stereotype of thirty something gay guys: the twink one, the closeted one, the married one, the perfect one but not for him, the lying one... the strange thing is that in all of them Brian finds something good, sex, conversation, common interests, but neither one of them is the ONE. When compared with Nick, the unreachable one, all of them lose the contest. More the book goes on and more I, the reader, is starting to wonder if, in the end, Brian will ever have a chance with Nick. Truth be told, more the time passed, and more I had the feeling that Nick was no more so important for Brian; yes, he is still the dream man, but at the beginning of the book, finding true love was the only purpose in life for Brian, and instead, more the story advanced, and more I had the feeling that it was not more his main path: Brian was finally growing.
Gaylife is basically a romance, but the romance is not so obvious. More than a story of two, is a story all centered around Brian and his experiences with the love. The good thing of the man is that he is able to learn from all them and keep something for him without regret or remorse.
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Most Likely to Succeed by Shawn LaneThis is a light funny romp, with a Cinderfella atmosphere that I find really charming and sweet. In the first scene, Clark Sterling's employees are pulling out the shorter straw to decide who has to go and say to the boss that he is late for a meeting. From this presentation, you could have the idea that Clark is a scaring man, maybe cold and aloof. And instead he is a man with a tender heart who falls a bit to often for romance. The new clerk of the firm is obviously the man who has to enter the lion's lair: Thomas is young, cute but very clever. Actually I believe he is even more clever than Clark.
Clark is a self-made man, who probably had a bit of complex due to the abandonment of his father when he was still very young. He climbs the rank of society thanks more to hard work and tenacity than being ruthless. And I like also that he has integrity, he doesn't hide that he is gay, even if he also doesn't flaunt it as a flag (see the comment on the ban on gay marriage): Clark is quite at comfort with himself, he had bad love experience in the past, but he is not embittered and closed, he still believe in true love and he is still willing to give to love a chance. And so when young and pretty Thomas enters his office with starry eyes, he is lost.
Thomas has a little crush on his boss. He probably unconsciously chose to work for his firm for that reason: Thomas is a very good student, and probably he had a list of firm ready to hire him, but he chose Clark, and I'm not saying that he chose Clark's firm, he chose just Clark. Not that he is planning to seduce his boss or a torrid office affair... Thomas has still not realized that he is in love with his boss, and it will be Clark's task to hunt him down, even if Thomas is not at all a shifty prey.
Actually the big affair is only a question of few days, barely a week: in two weekends spent mostly in bed and at Disneyland plus some days at work, Clark and Thomas go from being employee and boss, to lovers, to possible life partners, to being torn apart by a stupid mistake. If not for the fact that both of them are incurable romantics it would have been not possible; and instead the story stands, and it's funny and enjoyable. I loved to see how Clark, piece by piece, dismantled his cool behavior (if he ever had one), to let you glimpse a different man, a bit naughty (public sex...), a bit housekeeper (breakfast in bed...), and a lot perfect dream man (big and posh house with hot tub). And I like also Thomas, who, other than being obviosly intelligent and good at work, is also a man who is fair enough to not lie down on a relationship that he knows not being the real thing, but who is also willing to risk everything when the real thing arrives.
There is one thing I didn't like, Clark's secretary... all right she has in mind only the good for Clark, and there is not even a personal reason to mistreat Thomas, but she didn't manage to rub my good side. I also found quite tactless that she spoke of Clark's past without his permission. I don't know, but I'm always fond of old faithful secretary, godmother style, and Agnes for me didn't enter the category.http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Mo
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Talons of the Condor is the sequel of Condor One, the fantapolitical novel by John Simpson about the first gay president of United States of America. I remember with pleasure that book, and I, above all, remember with pleasure David Windsor, Mr. President. As you know if you read the previous book, or can understand from the surname, David is not exactly some Mr. Smith throws in the chaos of the White House in Washington. He, even before being a president, was from a very wealthy family, with connection with the royal family in England, and I believe he was, as he is still, quite a spoiled man. He is not that spoiling that makes a character unlikable, but more a general attitude, o way to face all the situation, from the simple "domestic" dealing as to buy a dog-bed for his favorite Scottish Terrier, to decide if declare the WWII or not. David is a man of power, he can listen to advice, but in the end he will take his own decision. And he is used, and expects to, that every single order is taking in immediate consideration, without further postponement. He is also a man of great passions, and he can be mislead by his easily inflaming temperament. All in all, someone would almost think that David in the end is not a so nice man, but then you see the "other" David, the one who can easily get caught ogling to the bottom of some military staff, or who is content to simple lay in bed and cuddle with his young lover, special agent Shane Thompson. The story is not so much different from the previous one, there is as before a treating to David's life, but maybe this time, the things got further and bigger. The author indeed plays a bit to fantapolitic, and imagines a various range of dangerous situation, with also some nasty consequences. And I have the feeling that he realized well over the half of the novel, that he didn't put enough danger in that first part, since the events rush one after the other, and then all together, toward an end that, from the political side will remain still "open", while instead will arrive to a nice, a very romantic conclusion on the love side. I think that the author has not yet put the end point on the story of this couple, and I have an idea to who will play the first lady role on the official visit of King William II, David's cousin, to the White House.
Another thing that I notice is that David is somewhat more "domestic" in this sequel. As I said, David is a spoiled man, quite aware to be a nice catch for every single gay man. And so in the first book, I had an impression of him like a friendly and open man, not at all scared by his sexuality. I think he was quite happy to be single and among so many handsome man. Now instead David is almost calm, satisfied, but not since he is aware of his position as president, but since he is content with his relationship with Shane. And so we also see the "daddy" David, behaving like a overprotective father for his little girl, the Scottish Terrier Mary, but also for every single gay teenager he has the chance to meet. It's almost like David's fatherly instinct were aroused at the same moment he met the man who is a good candidate to be the real deal... quite the attitude of those old-fashioned women of the good society that were raised to be good wives and mothers, and who, soon after the marriage, lose the careless of youth to suddenly became the symbol of a perfect woman.
In all of this, I lost Shane... well, poor Shane is quite the supporting character in there. He is still a good man, he is devoted and unselfish, and sometime he looses the mask of composure to let us see the real man, but all in all, it's David who shines, and Shane lives of reflected light. Where it's David who suddenly becomes "domestic" and tamed, truth be told, it's Shane who plays the perfect role of the wife of a very important man: silent and always present, ready to satisfy every single wish of his man.
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Cover Art by Dan Skinner
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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You Can Leave Your Hat On is what the title promised, a naughty little novella on a stripper and his lover. The starting point of the story is one I already see in the past, a young and handsome College TA, Harlan, who has the hots for his even more handsome, a slightly older, College professor, Sawyer. The book respects the rules of a May / December romance plus the College setting with an Office Affairs theme... the shorten the thing, this is the classical romance by the rule, with the twist of being a gay romance. So I would say that it can appeal both to the old fan of the gay romance than to a newbie who wants to try her hand on the genre.Being Sawyer older and also Harlan's superior, he has all the trouble of the case: he can't take advantage of his position, he doesn't want to be involved with a younger man who can have everyone he wants, and plus there is also a little problem of appropriateness... Harlan to make the ends meet has a side job as a stripper in the local gay club, and Sawyer saw him at his workplace. So the point if Sawyer is gay is no more a question, but now there is the biggest problem that, even if Sawyer manages to move on the fact to have a relationship with a student, the fact that said student is a stripper is a big NO for the career of a college professor.
And so Sawyer didn't make a move on Harlan, stopped to go to that club, and forced himself to have a strictly professional relationship with the boy. Only that Harlan is not of the same idea, and as soon as he reaches his graduation day, he is also ready, willing and naked for the professor to take. Harlan has all the cockiness of his young age, he is really convinced that Sawyer is avoiding him only since they have a professional relationship to preserve, and he thinks that, as soon as that problem is over, Sawyer will be all his to take. In a way I like how daring and careless Harlan is, but this only proves that he is really young.
Being Harlan one of his students, it's not the only problem for Sawyer; there is also the question of his side job, as a stripper, that is not exactly a good visiting card to prove his willingness to commit and being exclusive; and then even if Harlan wants a real relationship, it's not said that Sawyer wants the same thing: he is arrived at an age where or you start to think seriously to commit, or you run at the minimum hint that there is a chance to be shackled... There is quite a controversy inside Sawyer, he is jealous of Harlan, mainly due to his job, but he is also skittish when it's time to commit and give something real to Harlan. Where Harlan is open and maybe careless, at least he has his mind clear and he knows what he wants... for all the years Sawyer has more than Harlan, he has not yet reached that level of maturity.
Anyway this is a novella, mostly and erotic novella, with a lot of sex scenes, hot and nice, and all in all it spans only two days in the life of our characters, so there is not enough time to develop a lot, but I have the idea that the author has something more in mind, since she introduced some supporting characters (Harlan's brother, Rhys, and Sawyer's friend, Macon) that have too much deepness to be only a passing spectator
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Ally Blue is usually known as the Queen of Angst (Forgotten Song, Easy, but also the more recent Untamed Hearts). Here she takes a detour from her usual path and writes a funny comedy. Thom is a pretty boy with an angelic face and a devilish behavior; long blond hair, blue eyes and lithe body hide a very strong character and dom tendency. Probably since he is tired to always been considered weak only due to his look, Thom has developed a very bad boy attitude, arriving even to be forceful with his partners.
On the other hand, Phil is a big boy with a uber tender heart. At six feet and three inches, he likes the pretty boy type, but he also like to be dominated. Nothing excite him more than a little thing that can order him around. So he is the perfect partner for Thom, if not that they are at totally opposite, not only physically but also in expectations: Phil is a flower-child type who runs a own business like a charity project... if he has enough to eat and dress, it is all right. Instead Thom is more the business man type, with the right degree and the dream to go far from where he started. Plus he had a very bad experience with a former lover, and so he is pretty skittish when it arrives to commitment.
When Thom goes to work for a company with a very bad reputation in civil rights and fair play, the relationship with Phil is at risk. But what I really like of this couple is that they manage to understand that one thing is work and another thing is love: they can disagree on the first and still be very hot and deeply involved by the other. And then the diversity in their point of view is not so huge as they think; Thom's disagreement is more a question of stubbornness, something he needs to defend to not have to admit that he is wrong. Stubbornness is maybe the worst fault of Thom.
This is exactly the case where opposite attract in a very good way: Phil's simple and quite behavior is the perfect balance for the little hell cat that is Thom. There is also a lot of sex, funny and light, but not too much to overwhelming the story: for example (little spoiler), Ally Blue decided to not completely tell us Thom and Phil's first sex encounter: she leads us till a point, with a lot of expectation, to then, like a trick, leave us suspending, and maybe drooling. But don't worry, soon after she makes amend, and Thom and Phil will experiment every possible position and place...
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Allergies is the classical shapeshifter story that got me hooked to the genre years ago. It's light and funny and plays with the stereotype of werewolves legends turning them in a joke between the partners.Ray is a computer geek. We haven't a real physical description of him other than being six feet tall, that it would be a considerable height if not that his soon to be partner is six feet and half, giving to Ray an aurea of fragility that arises the protective feeling of Lou (short for Lupine). Another thing I noticed is that probably Ray for human standard is more or less a plain-john type of man, not the one you would turn to see on the street, and he is not even the party animal, preferring his couch and a videogame, to night club and dancing. So no, Ray has very little chance to find the man of his life if that man didn't enter his life by force. But Ray has to have something that makes him irresistible for lycan standards, since as soon as Lou sees him, he has the suddenly need to claim the man, and also other lycans have pretty strong reaction to him as well. Should be something in his smell... Anyway, the attraction is mutual, very much physical, and Ray doesn't struggle to much to let Lou have his way with him. There is only a problem, Ray is allergic to Lou, and not since Lou has a "inner" furry side, since Ray is not allergic to him when he is in shifted form. All the sneezing and sniffling thing adds humor to the story; there is even a bit of "adventure" streak, a threatening to the pack from an outside enemy, but I believe the author is planning to use it in a further story, since in this one is really a second line aspect, not fully developed.
Where Ray is not exactly the usual pretty and cute hero, but more a normal man, also Lou si not the classic "alpha male"; true, with Ray he can play the role of the Alpha, he can growl and bite as he likes, since Ray loves him, and lets him be the one "apparently" in control, but in the context of his family, it's pretty clear that Lou is far from being the leader... sometime he is even directed by his sisters, letting alone the fact that the real Alpha of the pack is his mother. Anyway, being Lou as he is, adds again humor to the story: Lou is really a playful soul, very much alike an uber-energetic puppy, with much chagrin of his partner Ray, that wouldn't want to think to puppies when he is with Lou! Lou is the youngest son after six brothers and sisters, and maybe he was also a bit spoiled by his mother. He begins his relationship with Ray with all the energy of a puppy with a new toy, and doesn't let many choice to the man. He is only lucky enough that Ray is so attracted to him that at first he is blind to all the oddities around him: a family where all the siblings have names more suited to dogs than kids, a family that always refers to themself as "pack", that instead of kissing you on the cheek to greet you, lick you... only a very infatuated man can overlook to all of this. But Ray is not stupid and sooner or later will start to wonder about all of this.
There is a lot of sex, very explicit and detailed, but maybe since I pay more attention to the funny side of the story, I found it really enjoyable with a bit of kinkiness that never sounded wrong. I really like when a man plays "alpha" without giving too much importance to the thing, and Lou does exactly that, all the biting and the forcing are more foreplay than real dominance acts.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Al
Amazon: Allergies
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This book probably wins the prize of most original book of 2009, and I don't believe that in the next nine months I will be able to find another book as original as this one. Maybe I'm wrong, and out there there are other transgender story like this one, but sincerely I have never stumbled upon them and so feel free to correct me.Kendra is a woman; she is a beautiful woman, a woman her female colleagues at school "friendly" envy and his male colleagues desire; she also loves her work as fifth grade teacher and she is always gentle both with kids than adults. But Kendra is not exactly a woman: she is born with the body of a woman but with a penis, even if small it is always a penis and it works like that also. And so Kendra, who believes in true and forever love, has always thought that for her it's not possible to have it, and always lowered herself to be content with seedy and dreary relationships that clash with her persona and her work.
Then Valerian, Val, enter her life; the new principal of the school, from the first day he seems to fall over heels for Kendra. He is insistent but charming, he vows Kendra with flowers and music, and he treats her like the woman she felt. But Kendra couldn't believe that their story has a future, and always tries to dirty this true love making it only a question of sex.
I like the contrast between Kendra as a woman and her approach to love, and sex. Kendra is a woman in toto, the author is very good in describing her in front of a mirror while she is taking care of her, hair, make up and dresses. Not only that, the author spends time to describe her dresses, even her shoes, and all of this allow the reader to see Kendra as a woman. But, and this is strange, Kendra is also a "man", since what she has of a man, she can't ignore; it's a part of her that always remind her that she is not a "lady", that she is not allowed to have the forever love she wants. And so Kendra is a woman but also a man.
I like also Val, even if he has not the development of Kendra. He is the classic Prince Charming, and behaves like that; he is perfect and being perfect maybe he is a little less interesting than Kendra. But Val has a final turning that made me almost cheer up for him.
Finally my doubts: first I really didn't understand the final dark "turn", but maybe it allows to give a background to Kendra so the reader can understand why she is so eager to find true love; second I felt the second part of the story a bit rushed, like the author realized that she had only few pages still to complete and tried to packed all in them. I believe this would be even a better story with some pages more, but as it's, for me it is something you should try.
http://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.a
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I haven't read all the stories in the Games People Play line by Torquere Press, but I have to say that the ones I read are really good. Like this one by C.B. Potts, about the secret fantasies of Graham: he wants to find the perfect domineering partner (who doesn't want it?), but Graham is pretty vanilla, and his fantasies are not hard core or similar. He is a bit like me, I don't mind to fantasize, but probably I would be scared if my fantasies lead to a dangerous path.Graham is also quite lucky, he logs on a social network site where you can write your secret fantasies, and share comments with other users. When Graham writes his first fantasy, to be mastered by a strong and unknown man, he has his wish granted the same night. It's pretty obvious that Graham was immediately spotted and targeted, but as I said, he is lucky, since the mysterious man pushes him only till certain edge, without really causing him any trouble. Truth be told, Graham is not playing safe, following a stranger in dark alleys and allowing him to enter his house, all of that without even knowing his face, but still, I never felt as Graham was really in danger, this mysterious man always felt safe to me.
I like Graham, he is this mix of nerd and twink, he still has not the courage to display his real self, but he is daring enough to experiment. And when gently pushed toward the right direction, he is eager to follow. And the level of sex in the story is a bit like him: sensual but not all in display, maintaining a bit of secrecy that I like.
I often said that I'm not into too much BDSM and similar, but this novella has the right amount of it for me; some mild blindfold play, a little spanking here and there, and a bit of public display of affection, but never too much. The games remain between the two men, and I prefer the things like that; this story is right for whom likes the sex a bit naughty and kinky, but not too extreme.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
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This is another of those little books from an English LGBT publisher, Wayward Books, that between 2000 and 2006 published an handful of very worthy books and then stopped... I'm still hoping that this is a temporary stop, since all the books I read so far are really interesting, all of them with this subtle English humor that would have made worth to be read the book even if it wasn't a gay romance, but the fact that there is also the romance makes them really, really nice.Ryan is a former police officer who took a leave of absence to go back to his University study; now fresh with his shining degree, but no more an innocent man, he has to decide what to do with his life. Ashton arrives to help him take the a different path: he is working for a private investigation firm and he needs a new partner; since he likes Ryan (and no, at first not in "that" way), he puts a good word with his boss and Ryan has a new career in front of him. Ashton is also ready to help him with his private life, always finding not one, but two willing girls at time to spend a good time together. Of the two man, Ashton is the more easygoing, the one who apparently thinks less and acts more, but Ashton has some best kept secret in his past, secrets that he hasn't revealed to Ryan neither after they are partner for five years. Even if Ryan seems the mind of their duo, he is actually a simple soul, and for him the things are always clear, and what he thinks, he does and says, he has no secret for no one, even less for Ashton, who he is starting to consider not only his partner but also his family.
During a drunken night, Ryan and Ashton end in bed together; the morning after both of them feigned a sudden and useful amnesia, but as I said before, Ryan is no a man to keep secrets, and in few time he realizes that this evolution in his relationship with Ashton was the only possible, and that he wants to go further that path. If the alcohol helped them once, maybe it will do also a second time, and Ryan sets things to get again Ashton drunk and willing. But when the things between them seem to get better, Ashton's past make its appearance: Ashton is not a simple man, a commoner, he is the nephew of a Duke, and now his grace wants that Ashton comes back home to help him with a delicate matter. Obviously Ryan, as Ashton's partner, will tag along, but this new side of Ashton adds trouble to trouble: not it's not more only a question of wrong gender, but also of different birth right.
All the book is mostly focused on Ryan and Ashton's relationship, from the beginning friendship to the ending love; I really like as the author deat with both Ryan and Ashton's reaction to this evolving situation: Ryan is almost resigned, he realizes that he likes, and maybe loves Ashton, he understands that he likes what Ashton did to him, and that, even if he never played along that inclination, he was not against the idea to be with a man; and so when the unthinkable happens with Ashton, after the first awkward morning when he first thinks to deny it, he realizes that it's not the end of the world, and then instead it's probably only the logical consequences to their special relationship. On the other hand Ashton has again the easy going attitude that he has with almost everything: he likes it, it is something that makes both of the happy and no one displeased, and so why not? There is no recriminations, no regrets between them; no deny what they are feeling, only the necessary time to be comfortable with it. No angst and no rage, they pass without a break from friends to loves in a very easy way. And the lovemaking between them is always considerate and tender, very, very enjoyable.
The second part of the book is also a nice full immersion in a big and old fashioned all aristocratic English family, complete of a little mystery that lead our heroes to investigate between the walls of an old abbey turned big country estate; a really nice set that reminds me a classical and old fashioned (and English!) sleuthing novel.
http://waywardbooks.com/acatalog/index.h
Amazon: Kind Hearts
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A really short story, only 22 pages, where the sex has a great share of it. Erick is a young executive in a factory; he made his path from the bottom, working on the line, and the same did Willis. Willis is Erick's forbidden dream, the colleague that plays in Erick's dreams every night, and the reason why Erick doesn't mind to work overtime. But there is only a game of glances between them, Erick never had the courage to speak for real to him, and so he jumps to the chance to be away on business for four days with Willis, in the same hotel room.No more I can say since the story is pretty much here. Maybe I can add that the story is very explicit, the sex is fast and ready without too much frills... it's a very manly way to approach it, and it's right, since both the author that the two characters are men. There is also a good component of self-esteem, despite Erick being shy in revealing his feelings to Willis, he is not unaware of his qualities, one of them being an handsome guy. But there is not wooing, no jumping around the main argument, that is two men and a bed.
It's not the first time that I read this author, and I had the same feeling as before (a feeling I had also for some other authors of whom I read only short stories...): I would like to have the chance to taste them with something longer, maybe not a full novel, but at least something more than two/three scenes.
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/b
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In a very short tale, only 11 pages, Vic Winter plays with the stereotype of a D/s relationship. Don is older, wealthier and the boss, but in the private life he is Alex's submissive; it's not clear how all it started (well, in only 11 pages it's almost impossible to know all), but now Don and Alex's relationship is 4 years older and since two years they are also living together. Outside their apartment, Don is still the boss, and he is still a too much busy business man, always working late and such things. But if he can he follows Alex's rule and his desires, if not, Alex is quite good in punish Don, and not in a way Don likes. This night Alex is preparing a nice surprise for Don, but Don is again late. When he arrives at home, and sees the collar on the doorknob, Don only hopes to have not ruin everything.The main scene is quite a classic D/s scene, with the required leather, harness and rings. What I like is that Alex didn't exaggerated, he masters Don with a firm but gentle hand, being dominant without being selfish. In a way Alex is always thinking to Don's good, and so the power play has a nice twist that I find nice and tender.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
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We have an old motto in Italy that more or less says: Christmas with your parents and Easter with whoever you want. And so Sean is pretty much forced to bring home for Christmas his six months boyfriend... the problem is that said boyfriend doesn't exist. Tired to listen to his mother complains about how much lonely he seemed in the city, Sean invented a boyfriend and as inspiration he used his work colleague Gary, And so why not asking to Gary himself to come back home with him for Christmas? Being Sean and Gary really friends, it's easy for Sean to convince him, but now another problem is facing up: Sean is starting to feel a bit too much comfortable with Gary as boyfriend, and Gary has always thought that Sean is a one night stand type of guy, and so, maybe, is not so easy to prove that he can be the "real deal".The story is short, 39 pages, but has a really "young" and "fast" style: a lot of dude, mate and I can almost hear the slaps on the shoulders... Gary and Sean are a little bit crazy, but more crazy seems to be their family, both of them very much supportive: no problem here on where the boyfriend of their son will sleep while he is in their house, I was quite expecting to find the supplies in the bedside table...
Funny and enjoyable, it represents the light side of the Christmas tales.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
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Mitch is a 30 years old successful realtor. He has his own firm and apparently a good life. But he is alone: his parents died in an accident three years before and since Mitch spent all his life denying to be gay, he has no one near him as a partner. And he is not doing anything to change the thing. Instead he accepts to do the esteem of a mountain cabin in Colorado during the Christmas time to allow all his employees to be at home with their families. But the day before his leaving, Mark, one of his employee, asks him if he can tag along; when Mitch asks why he has no other plan for Christmas, Mark candidly admits that he was disowned by his family for being gay... like that, plain and simple, without fear, Mark is claiming what Mitch has no courage to do.It's also clear that Mark has plans for Mitch, very personal plan, and when they arrive to the cabin, Mark declares that he is Mitch's Christmas Toy and that the man can do everything he wants with him. At first Mitch is reticent, but then, faced with the possibility to explore all his hidden desires, he surrenders.
I have to say that all in all I like the story, even if I don't like so much the almost analytical way in which sex is described. True, Mitch is new to all the matter, but sometime I almost had the feeling to read an "how to do" manual; and then, when both Mark and Mitch punctuate all the salient moments... well sometime, I prefer the sex to be silent. Anyway, as I said, the story is good, and the sex, even if loud, is sometime also original: the first time of Mitch in the snow, well you can say that it will remain an unforgettable moment for him. I like that Mitch didn't fall for Mark at the first occasion, but makes the man works for what he wants; Mitch is in denial, but he knows that, and he first needs to accept himself and then he can accept Mark. And I like also Mark's attitude, as he step by step coaxes Mitch into surrender. Probably if the author pushed a bit more on romance, and a bit less on sex, this would be a really good first taste of a new author (new for me).
By the way, very nice cover.
http://www.extasybooks.net/ebjmsite/inde
Amazon Kindle: Christmas Toy
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The work Christmas holiday party starts with a lot of expectations for Seth; in the last week Seth changed himself from a nerdy geek to a butterfly to please Oscar, a co-worker he has a crush on. And tonight Seth wants to move to the next level with Oscar. But all his hopes are crashed when he discovers that Oscar is using him to obtain a promotion... Seth is still shocked when another surprise is ready for him: Arnost Sarac, the CEO's assistant, has decided that Seth should be his Christmas present! Well I will say that this is not a problem, since Arnost is a very handsome man, with a Nordic look and a very gentle soul and touch, the right man to soothe the pain in Seth's hearth.The story is really short, 35 pages, and it's actually only a scene, the Christmas party night. But the author gives the reader enough details to imagine Seth and also Seth's friends; he is not a character without development, it's easier to imagine all his background and all his joy for what he is expecting for Christmas. And so the reader can sympathize with him when he suddenly seems to have lost everything only to find a way better gift under the Christmas tree. Arnost is maybe on the second line, but also him has some nice features that makes him an easy character to like for the reader.
When you find such good characters, you can only say that it's a shame that they leave you so soon.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
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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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David is a spoiled brat; from a wealthy family, he realized soon in his life that he is gay and he never acted in a different way. He went to College and he shared a room with another gay student, even if not the same bed. But in the campus he had his share of adventures, and when he was ready for the job world, he was hired in his father's firm. True, he "asked" to begin from the low level ranks, but it's obvious that, if you are the boss's son, you would not have any problem in climbing that rank, soon and fast.Then one year ago, David got his eyes on Seth, one of the young wonderboys of the firm, a man in list to be the younger Vice President. When they first met, David was only a new employee and they didn't have any chance to deepen their acquaintance, but now David is planning to trap Seth for a weekend in his house and have his way with the man.
As always in his life, David gets what he wants, and so it is with Seth; true, they make a bargain, David gets his wicked weekend with Seth, but on Monday all will remain inside the house and will not interfere with work. David accepts, but we all know that it will be not like this, David is not ready to let go his new toy.
I believe that you will have a very bad impression on David reading this, but it's not like that. David is only very self-conscious of what he is and what he wants; in a way he is sure and strong, a strange thing for a man so young, for me he is even stronger of Seth, who is older, 37 years old against 26, and on a career level upper than David. Of Seth we haven't many details, so I haven't a real perception of the man; he is nice but no more than this.
Probably the book is too short, 60 pages, to answer to all my question; for example I didn't understand the necessity to "turn" David from nephew of the boss to son... maybe it was worst to Seth to have a relationship with the boss's son than the nephew? I don't know.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ge
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The book tells the story of Cembran, a mixed blood Satyr... yes, you heard well, a Satyr, those mythical creatures with horns, tail and goat legs... well told in this way, Cembran seems not to be an handsome guy and instead... well he has very little horns and a very little tail and his legs are human, so he only inherited the better part from his satyr father... and no, I will not tell you what it is. Anyway Cembran as half satyr is more long-lived than human, and at 300 years old he lives in America now; he left his home in Switzerland when he refused to marry a woman and procreate little satyrs, and he manages to build a small farm in an almost wild estate. The man who owned the land knew about Cembran and when he died he left a will in which he forbad to sell it and now, three generations later, the land is owned by Travis.
Travis used to visit the land when he was a young teenager with sexual insecurities... from a very strict family, he knew that when he would come out he would also loose his family support, and so he searched shelter in the wild land. In one of his visit he sees Cembran from afar and then another time he briefly meets the man. From that day on, Cembran is in his dreams and he actually can't find a man to share his life. Finally as an adult he decides to visit again the land and this time he meets Cembran as a man, and as a man he "seduces" the half satyr. This is the particularity of this novel: Travis should be the naivee one, the young human without experience, and instead he is the seducer. Cembran is a free spirit, a son of nature, a man who lives hundreds of years back in time: for him, in his little farm, the time stopped.
When Travis approaches him, he could be the destruction of this paradise, and instead he becomes the protector of all this, the knight in shining armor who will rescue not only Cembran, but also all the other satyrs who gather around them. Indeed the book is really two books: the first one is all about Travis and Cembran, how they met and loved, and it's somewhat in an undertone; even if it's when there are most of the revelations of the story, the first part flows placid, without shocks, even the sex is almost "innocent" and in second line. The second part instead has all another rhythm: it's almost like the satyrs are now free to express themself; this part is lighter, funnier and sexier. You can clearly read two different moods, the first brooding, the second sparlinkg.
Another things I noticed is that, even if the book is written by a man, it's sweet and romantic, sometime almost too much... sometime Cembran behaves more like a woman than a man! And this is a compliment, since it's made by a woman!
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Children of Bacchus
Amazon: Children of Bacchus
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Taking Work Home follows soon after the end of the previous book. Mark and Steven are lovers, but they still live on their own and work together. They spend most of the weekends together, but Mark is maintaining his space while they test their relationship. But now is time for Mark to meet all Steven's family and not only his parents: New Year's Eve is the planned day and it will be also the day in which Steven will announce to his family that he not only wants to live with Mark, he also wants to marry him.As the previous one, I like a lot this book since it satisfies one of my kinks, my love for May / December relationship. Here at its full, with Steven being a 46 years old wealthy man, and Mark a 26 years old young man just out of college. Steven takes the lead of their relationship not only in bed but also during their day-to-day routine, and Mark is more and more becoming the perfect secretary wife; he is careful of Steven's needs at work but also in his private life, he supports him with comfort and sex when needed, even when Mark himself is not receiving sexual satisfaction from the act.
This is one of the aspect I found interesting in the book. Sometime sex was more than an erotic interlude to entertain the reader; sex was part of the reason Jules Jones gave the reader to understand Mark and Steven's relationship. Mark could be younger than Steven, but he is an old "younger": he is not more in that age in which sex is everything and more is better; he can fill a stab of annoyance when he didn't obtain what he is trying to reach, but he is wise enough to know that if it's not now, it will be later. Of the two, Mark seems to be the wiser, above all in the matter of living together, and so the unbalancing given by the age difference, is a bit covered by their completing personality.
Another thing I found really charming is the English feeling of the novel, with our characters, both main than supporting ones, who always think that a good cup of tea can be the answer to a lot of problem. So English that, even when they are arguing, they are polite and kind. No loudy tone, no bloody reactions, but a cool composure and bitter reply... sometime words can wound more than a sword.
If you fancy a silver romance, Taking Work Home is really a good choice, even if now I'm waiting to read of their marriage and of all the organization before it.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=7
Series: Lord and Master
1) Lord and Master: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/46959.h
2) Taking Work Home
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Once in a time the cover of the book perfectly decipts the main characters. Infact you see two young men, one slightly younger and handsome than the other. Nic Gerrard is a 23 years old financial guru. Two years before, barely out of college, he launched a dating company based on a matching program he developed with the help of another young programmer, Aidan West. Fame and fortune smile to Nic, and now he is the man of the day, the most sought bachelor. And in the past he was happy to oblige all the fans around him, dispensing sexual favors like a king waves to his people. Actually Nic is not a bad guy, he simple seems unable to say no. Employees, former fiancees (both male than female), friends... if they ask for a night of sex, Nic is willing to give it to them. Probably it was a preservation instinct, having lost his mother very soon, and never known his father, Nic learned not to develop deep feeling for people, since they can easily go away. Something he experimented also with one of his lover, an older man who helped him at first when he was alone, but that then, without much worries, chose to leave for newer shores. Even his first working relationship with Aidan was taken on in the same way; they worked well together, maybe they could have something more, but when the work was done, Nic practically filed Aidan in a hidden portion of his brain, like a good memory. Not that Aidan was not around, simply Nic moved on toward another goal.
On the other hand, Aidan is not at ease with relationships and similar stuff. He had a very bad experience with a former lover, and he no more trust himself to be a good judge around feeling. So probably he was glad that Nic didn't try to deepen their relationship beyond work. But now Nic seems to have changed his mind, and he is till more present in Aidan's life. He doesn't accept a "no" as answer, and Aidan is ever more in trouble to maintain his control around the handsome man.
Trying to solve an hacker attach to their matching program and also develop a new feature, Nic and Aidan spend a lot of time together. Nic has the chance to see that he is no more interested in the no string attach encounters as before and Aidan can see a new side of the man, a side that makes him believe, and hope, that he will not be only another conquest, a new toy to play and put aside soon after.
The undercurrent hacker mystery is also a good one: I hadn't found the culprit, I had two suspects, and no one was the right!
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Sparks Fly
Amazon: Sparks Fly
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Doug and Simon work together in the same office but they are not "friendly" to each other; every chance they have to argue, they take, and sometime they also create the chance if it's not there. Their colleague are tired to see them bite and growl and so they think to stuck them in a janitor closet for an indefinite amount of time: if they don't kill each other, maybe they will find an agreement. But the agreement they find is not of working type; they realize that the sparks between them have a sexual nature and decide to go with them. A short story of less then 40 pages, smooth and enjoyable. The classical office affairs plot, where two handsome men have mutual attraction but seem to never find the way to reveal it openly until mutual "friends" give them an hand. Maybe the friends didn't expected that the outcome of their actions would be an intense sex session in the closet.
To read during lunch break, preferably at work to guess what will happen if you manage to be stuck in the closet with that handsome guy in the near office...
http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/p
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Condor One is a fantapolitic novel. David Windsor, multimillionaire business man and far cousin of William V, the King of England, is now a democratic candidate to be the new USA President. His campaign goes very well since the american citizens are tired of years of Republican government, and he is the most probable winner. So his adversary lets drop the bomb during the last official speech: David is gay. Unexpected to everyone, David doesn't deny the news and au contraire, he embraces this new turn of his campaign, gaining even more consent from people who appreciate him for his honesty. So David becomes the new President and his life takes an accelerate path; in all the whirlwind, his only stepping stone is Shane, his bodyguard. Shane is a late twenty very handsome man, with the look of an American movie star and the character of Gandhi. He is always quite and sure, always ready for "his" President. At first David is a bit of a playboy, he plays with Shane but he is not against the idea to "play" also with some other fine looking men who happen to be near him, even if he has never had the chance to conclude something, since the official duty and the lack of intimacy don't allow him any free time. But when the events turn mad and all around him seems to crash, again and again Shane will be his only safe shelter.
The story has a very strong suspense plot, with a lot of action. It's almost like reading a Tom Clancy gay novel. What I find really interesting is David's character, a man that should be upright and detached, and instead, when he can, he is always ogling the fine ass of his bodyguard. But despite the weakness of his body, his mind is very strong and ready and when he needs to take an important decision, he is up to the task. And even if he tries to be fair with everyone, he is also willing to use the iron hand with necessary, and sometime I understand that he is also gladly to do that, when the justice falls upon someone he doesn't like: even if David is a good man, he has a naughty and devil side that sometime surfaces.
Shane maybe is too perfect. He is handsome, clever, generous... I never read about some faults about him. Maybe to be the man of a so important figure, he needs to be so, but well, I would like for him to be a little more angry, above all when David lets his weak body to lead him astray.
The erotic part of the novel are pretty strong, graphic and detailed... these are two men who are making sex (before love) and it's very clear: not chocolate and flowers for them, they go directly to the core of the matter.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Condor One
Amazon: Condor One
Reading List:
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Tsukasa is a "cold beauty" (I think this should be a typical Japanese stereotype, since it's the second time I found it in an yaoi novel...). He is so beautiful that people around him think that he doesn't need to be properly loved but only admired, and when someone dares to reach for him, he finds a totally different guy, a guy who is not so selfish and selfcontrolled as he seems, and also a guy who needs to be cherished and protected, and above all romantically loved. Yes since Tsukasa dreams of the perfect lover and the perfect life they could have together. And instead, he is just dumped by his last lover who wants to marry a rich girl to have an advancement in career. Tsukasa is mourning in the bar of a posh hotel when he is cruised by an handsome, and apparently, wealthy business man. He is so sad and lonely that, even if he is not is usual behavior, he accepts to follow the man in his room and they spend a night of sex. Another surprise for Tsukas, who, in his previous relationships, has never really appreciated the sexual part of the relationship, always suffered it as a duty to please his partner. And instead this handsome stranger takes care of Tsukasa, and of his body, and brings him to high sexual level he has never reached before.
The morning after Tsukasa is surprised, but pleased, when the man asks him a repeat performance the next week. They start a long relationship, meeting every week at the same hotel and in the same room. Tsukasa is addicted to this man, a man he even doesn't know for name.
The story is pretty simple and there is a twist in the middle that turns it in a classical of the romance genre, the boss and secretary's relationship. It's pretty clear that for Tsukasa is love, since for the first time he has found a not selfish partner, who not only see his beauty exterior, but also sees the man, and his needs. The story obviously is pretty erotic, but not so graphic details of other in the same genre. There is a lot of sex, but I think Tsukasa's character has a right development. Maybe the "handsome stranger" could be a bit more explained, his reasons, his feelings, above all in the second part, when he is also given a real role.
Amazon: Caged Slave (Yaoi Novel)
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Office Advances (Campus Cravings) by Carol LynneSam, Aaron's brother (Aaron was the main character of Off-Season) is a 21 years old college student. He is one of the gay students who chose to live on the KB dorm, the all gay college dormitory founded by Demitri, Aaron's lover. Sam is pretty out of money and so he accepts a part time work from Tony (Tony was the main character of Broken Pottery). But doing so he has to deal with Jace, Tony's vice president and the man who previously refused him a date. Jace is a mid-thirty handsome man, and he said he didn't date "kids".
But Jace's behaviour is all but that of a not interested man, he is possessive and they finish in bed in less time. Only that Jace is living with a former and very handsome boyfriend and everything Sam does seems wrong. In the end they will find a common path, and also some kinky common fetish in bed that will help them to build a steady relationship.
Jace is a man with trust issues, Sam is a young man, point (he has still to learn how to behave in a exclusive relationship). This is all the matter of the story, pretty simple and enjoyable.
The Campus Cravings series is like a soap opera. Every story is of the right lenght to entertain you, but also to not be too binding. And every book give you the chance to get acquinted with all the previous characters and to have a glimpse in the future ones: it's just two or three books that we know of a future couple, the blind Charlie and the ex marine Jack, and in this book we meet also the son flowers Lark and the tattoed biker Kade. I can't wait to read the story of this last couple.
And like in the old and good soap opera, don't try to find reality in it, there isn't... you can't ask yourself how is possible that every handsome men in this series is gay and how is possible that, in a rather small city, there is an average percentage of gay population that it is greater than San Francisco, and how is possible that every gay man has a brother, gay himself... This is Campus Cravings Fantasyland and I like it in this way!
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=s
A Biker’s Vow (Campus Cravings) by Carol LynneAnother chapter in the Campus Cravings soap opera, the adventures of a small town college that, book after book, is more and more full of same sex couple and less and less homophobic about it. This time is the time of Kane, former lover of Jace, main character in Office Advances, and of Lark, roommate of Sam, now Jace's lover. Kane and Lark met in the previous book and they are apparently at opposite: Kane is a biker, all tattoo and strong body, 6.4 and moody. Lark is 5.3 and nerdy, always with his nose in a book. But something in the past draw them together: Kane is HIV positive and he has decided to give up sex to make penance of his past careless behavior; Lark instead was raised in a community, a new-flower type, where free love and acceptance is a normal way to live. And Lark first love was also HIV positive, so Lark knows what he will face having a relationship with Kane.
The story is pretty strong, the author is not light in giving all the detail of the consequences to live with the AIDS treat near you. And Kane and Lark don't walk toward the sunset free and happy only cause they are in love. But this is a romance, and obviously there must be a light at the end of the tunnel. Plus this is a continuing series, almost a soap opera as I affectionately call it, and so it ends with hope. More, in the end, the two soap operas by Carol Lynn, Campus Cravings and Cattle Valley merge, with the hypothesis that Kane and Lark will live in the future in the Montana LGBT small town (another utopian world by Carol Lynne) and probably Bo, Lark's former lover and now Kane's friend, will have a story of his own in the new city with a shy cowboy...
Carol Lynne is not new in bring into romance serious matter. Multicultural relationship, disable person, pedophilia, may december relationship... small or big problems, all of them not easily to face. And Carol Lynne faces them with a light hand, not being too angst but still not minimizing them. As always there is a lot of sex, a trademark of this author, and it's a joyous sex, down and dirty.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=g
Amazon: Dorm Life (Campus Cravings)
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
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Well, well, well this book surprised me. Truth be told I didn't buy it as soon as it was out, even if I like Ann Somerville's work, due to the menage matter. You know me well friends, I'm not keen first of cheating men, second of BDSM and third of menage: simple, I don't like a woman between MY men.But, without give up the book, I need to give kudos to Ann Somerville, since she wrote one of the few menage story I can without problems, say that I like.
Seb is the captain, North the pilot, and Jati the engineering. All of them are embarking for a long mission in a spaceship and it's not the moment to argue. And instead they are arguing a lot. Twenty four hours before Seb and North met in a pub and they spent a night together, but the morning after Seb left mumbling some weak excuses of "this is against the rules", "I shouldn't do it".
Seb is rebounding from a divorce (with a man, in this futurist setting same sex marriage is not an issue) and he has just learnt that his ex spouse is remarrying and moving out from their home. Worst he wants to sell the house and have a clean start. Obviously Seb is not ready, since he is still harboring the hope to reconquer him sooner or later.
North instead thinks that Seb is ready, and when he meets him out of duty, he is willing and ready to give the handsome captain some reasons more for a new beginning. Saved being dumped the morning after and begin to sulk and pout like a teen in heat. Worst, he breaks up quite abruptly a fuck--buddy relationship he had with Jatila, a fellow officer.
Pity that Jatila was thinking that what she had with North could be something more that a friend with benefits relationship. And when North is greatly surprise by her reaction, she understands that he had no idea of what she was feeling.
So these are the very "good" conditions before the journey starts. Add to them an alien's attack to the spaceship and our trio will have to deal with a lot more of what they probably can.
This is a very good mix between sci-fic and romance. Both parts are deeply and satisfyingly dealt, and the characters are complex and interesting, and it says a lot on the author that she manages to do that in a book of less than 90 pages.
Also the end is right for the story, and, I don't know, I feel like the author will give us something more on this trio. Sorry if I give you not more details, but sincerely this is a book you should read discovering things by yourself, to preserve you the same surprise I had.
http://www.samhainpublishing.com/romance/i
Amazon Kindle: Interstitial
Reading List:
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Rhone stops a young Adam while he is pickpocketing him. Adam is seventeen years old and an homeless; he thinks no one could be interested in him and so when Rhone, instead to bring him to the police, offers him a job, he is at first wary and then openly admiring of this man. While the years pass, Adam also falls in love with the man: Adam in fact his a gay teen thrown out of home by an homophobic father and in Rhone, and his brother Canin, he sees the family he has never had.But Rhone is straight and he has also open relationship he has no problem to show to Adam, since they live together. Adam can only dream of this man, but when the dreams become also a pain, Adam has to take a decision: far from the eye far from the heart, and so he, ten years later their first encounter, tries to build a life apart from Rhone. But Rhone is not willing to let go a man he has long ago started to consider family himself.
The sex between Adam and Rhone is pretty erotic, the right realization of Adam's teen fantasies, and like all the teen fantasies it's also a bit exaggerated and very "loud", almost like one of that porn flick the young use to read when their bodies are all demands and less patience.
The book is not very long, 100 pages, and since the main part is spent telling us of Adam's growth, the romantic side of the story takes on only few pages... this is maybe the only disappointment I have, I'd like to read more about Adam and Rhone as a couple, after having read a lot about them as friend. I would add without regretting it at least another 50 pages or so.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=7
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
For their first anniversary, Marc wants to give to Oliver a special present: one day as an anonymous man, without worries for press and work. Because, even if they live together, they have very few chances to be together and outside their apartment, they are always employee and emlpoyer and not a couple. Maybe for the first time Oliver realizes how much Marc changed his life to be with him, and questions himself if what he gives in return is enough.
This is a nap-size dream, a read of 40 pages thought to be read in a session. And it accomplishes its scope. Both characters are very nice and the relationship between them is very romantic and sexy. Even if it's a short story, there are also some nice supporting characters. Both main characters than one of the supporting character, Caleb, would deserve a longer story. I would see this one like a short sequel of a longer novel where the author tells us how Oliver and Marc met and how they became lovers.
http://www.shop.dreamspinnerpress.com/pr
Waiting Reading List:
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If you don't like a very commanding man, you could have problem to like Pierce. Pierce is a top lawyer, partner in a firm. He is in charge at work and at home and he likes it. He is bisexual, for him it's not important the genre of his lover, but that his lover is a submissive. And so when Landon enters the firm for a law practive, Pierce knows to have found his sub.Landon is a very young and nice man. Gentle and shy he has a deep crush on Pierce, but for sure he would never find the courage to make a move on him. And so he is totally unprepared when Pierce corners him in the print room and makes love to him. And when Pierce orders him to go home with him and begins to explain the duties of a good sub, Landon can only answer yessir, to all and forever.
Signet and Silk is not very long, only 30 pages, but I like it. It starts with a third point of view and then first the author tells the story using Pierce's point of view and then Landon. So we have an all around impression of the story. Obviously if you have problem with the concept to give all the power in the hand of your partner, you could consider Pierce a negative character. But it seems that Landon needs that; true, Landon is very young, and maybe it would be interesting to see this same couple ten years after, when Landon will be a real man, and not a blossoming boy...
http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart/
Waiting Reading List:
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A bit of Cinderfella meets Prince Charming and Bad Boy meets Angel Boy.Mohan (I like this name, it's very sexy...) is a 35 years old tattoo parlor owner and artist. Of Indian (from India) origins, he left home and family as a young boy when he refused to marry a good Indian girl. Since then he had some bad relationships mostly with men who didn't want to be seen with him, a clearly etnic guy who doesn't hide to be gay.
Aaron is an executive manager, a VP in the hotel where Mohan opened his tattoo parlor. 28 years old, Aaron really has never had problems in his life: he is the perfect son of a perfect family; probably if he found the reason to coming out with his family, he would do that, but in this moment he doesn't see why he has to risk his good image for nothing. But when nothing becomes Mohan, and he instead risks to lose the man, Aaron is willing to do everything to prove his interest.
Unfortunately the book is not very long, less than 80 pages, but I like it. It's romantic and sweet, but it has also a naughty little side: both Mohan than Aaron aren't shy in prove their sexual interest in many way, and both of them have a dominant side that makes the lovemaking really hot. There aren't really dramatic scenes or twist in the story, and all the conflicts are resolved in a pretty smooth and simple way: maybe I'd like to read a little more on Aaron and Mohan common life, how they manage to find a common path together; it would be interesting to see also their interaction as couple with the outside world.
All in all a fast and enjoyable reading, that I think it proves Cheryl Dragon's skilled hand in writing erotic romance (not only M/M).
P.S. Very hot cover from Christine M. Griifth
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=6
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Christine M. Griffin
Ford is the classical good boy of a wealthy southern family. Third generation doctor, he has always followed the steps his parents have setted for him. But when he is expected to marry a good girl from a wealthy southern family he begins to question some of that steps. Cause almost by accident, he discovers that he is more attracted from men than women.
Told be truth, till almost his late twenties years, he pleases himself with the adoration from other men. Ford is an handsome man, wealthy, a doctor, and he is used to be spoilt first by his family and then by his friends and lovers.
First time he sees Dan, he is impressed by the angel voice of the man singing a Christmas carol. But Dan is a shy man and probably in that moment Ford is not ready for love, and so neither of them make a move. An year after they have the change to meet again and this time Ford finally makes that move. But as always Ford takes the lead and dictats how their relationship should be. Dan, even if shy and average plain jane, is not willing to loose himself in Ford's aurea.
The relationship between them is not simple: even if Ford, step by step, tries to find his way out of the closet, he never claims that Dan is his lover, he uses direct words like "he sleeps with me", but he never one calls him other than my friend. On the other hand Dan comes from a very poor family and he is very stubborn in searching to prove his independence: accept to live with Dan and risk to cancel all his independence's claims is a very hard step. Plus Dan has a critical illness that put at risk their life together: from one part Dan tries to hide the problems his illness affects him, cause it's one more thing that puts him on an inferiority level from Ford, on the other hand Ford, even if conscious and caring of Dan's illness, sometime regrets the boundaries that cause them.
The story travel in two time levels: the main story tell us the journey of Dan and Ford to spend Christmas with Dan's family, and between loving and conformtable family's pictures, we read how Dan and Ford's meet, of all the problems they have to overcome to be together, how always love is never put in question, but that they will succeed. The two time levels converge in one common ending, that could be an happily ever after, and could be not: not all the open issues in their relationship are straightened...
Amazon: Comfort and Joy
Jim Grimsley's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/34393
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