All right, this was a very daring book. And it's the classical book that who read and like it, as me, then feels bad about liking it. Why? Because we are "programmed" to consider certain things as bad, and I hate it! I would really be able to read a book like this one and closing it with only a satisfied feeling, not guilty at all. Well, at least I read it, and I liked it, so, that is a step more, isn't it?

Problem is the book has two sex scenes between a boy and a man in shifted form, a wolf. Actually that is not exactly true, Brian, the shifter, is actually a wolf, Saoi, who is able to shift in human form. As the authors well explain, he is not a werewolf, he is a faewolf; once upon a time, so far away that it was lost when and where, a fairy had sex with a wolf and a new breed was born, the faewolf. Saoi left his pack when he realized that his people were dying, not having a place in the world where they could prosper undisturbed. Saoi shifted in Brian and now he is living among the humans, but he is more a wolf than a man, and even when he is in human form he still thinks as a wolf, he actually lives like one, in his cabin in the woods, he has no one of the comforts humans usually wants. During the day he is a graduate student and TA for a biology college course, but during the night he roams the wood in wolf form.

Who is the partner for a man/wolf like him? Kiya is a half-blood Native American at his first year of College. He is very young, I believe barely legal, and he really gives me the impression of a modern Little Red Hiding Hood left alone in the clutches of the Big Bad Wolf, pun very much intended. Only that, in this version of the story, the Big Bad Wolf is the hero and the Hunter is the villain, and I don't think the coincidence are only by chance, I think the authors had clearly in mind that they were rewriting a classic. But coming back to Kiya, I don't want to talk bad about him, I think the way he was is the only way possible for his character to be in the story.

First, his Native American's heritage allows him to be at comfort with the woods, and with the animals who live in them. More, wolves are sacred for Native Americans, and so when Kiya meets Saoi (when I talk of the wolf I will call him Saoi, the man is Brian, and so did the authors), he actually thinks to have found animal spirit who will protect him. As I said Kiya is very young, and in his first year far from his family he did some bad choices; he is just out from an abusive relationship with Ted, an older boy who took advantage of him and above all who forced Kiya to have non consensual and non protected sex. This is, lucky for me, one of the think we only heard but don't read in the story, see how my mind works? I have trouble, but I can read about sex in shifted form, but I don't want to read about "real" non-consensual sex. Anyway, the trouble for Kiya is that he needs, and wants, a protector; Kiya is a submissive for nature, he is used to be part of a "pack", his family, and when he is out alone, far from them, he desperately tries to replace them with a lover, someone who can shelter him like his family does. Even if Kiya is 18 years old, he is still very much like a youngster, and I don't think this will change with him grow older; it's in Kiya's nature to be like that, see how he sucks his thumbs when he is worried, and being him like that, he is the perfect partner for Brian/Saoi, someone who thinks pack is the only way to live, and who actually misses very much one. Kiya and Brian give to each other what both miss and want.

So, the sex in shifted form... it's not free, it's entwined in the story, it's the only way this story could evolve. If you want to read this story, you have to read that. Yes, all right, you can flame me on the comment section, saying me that this is not romance, that this is not right, you can say everything you want, I will only reply to you: the story had its flaws, sometime Kiya was really too much of a unwilling teaser for his own good (the lollypop were almost too much even for me), and Brian was almost too good to be true, but a flaw was not the sex. And to add a very minimal flaw, but too prove you that I didn't read the story lightly, I even found an END EXCERPT at some point, probably an oversight of who sent the book to print (and BTW I bought my ebook copy, so as I found it everyone else can find it); since it was almost at the beginning of the book, it didn't leave me with a good impression at first, I was annoyed, I thought to have bought a less than high quality book... and instead, in the end, after having read it all, sex scenes included, I think, again, this was a very daring book. And since it was so daring, I can overlook to some editing faults.

Amazon: Faewolf

Amazon Kindle: Faewolf

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html


Cover Art by Ponderosa

This is quite a controversial short story, it plays a lot on the squicky feelings people have with shapeshifter stories and it's also very hot, being very graphic in details when arriving to the sex scene.

Scott lives inside a park reserve. He is used to share the park with bears, he knows them well and knows how to avoid trouble. But then poachers start to kill the bears and the beasts become unpredictable. One night, after a very near proximity encounter with one of them, Scott finds the same bear wounded in his stable and calls Luke for help. Luke is a park ranger, a different type of "bear", but one Scott is bringing a torch for long time.

Scott is gay and he has no trouble with that, when he wants sexual relief, he goes into town and finds someone. But the one night stands he has are always with ordinary man, like him, and instead he likes the "bears" (not the beast but the big and strong hairy men), and in particular he likes one bear, Luke. So when fate brings them together, and Luke is not against the idea to share warm with him in a cold night, nature takes its course.

But there is a little catch, the wounded bear in the stable that disappeared and the equally wounded naked man, Bjorn, Scott found in his place. The strange familiarity Bjorn has with Luke, and how Luke doesn't seem to notice nothing of strange in Bjorn's behavior...

Short story, so there is nothing more to say, if not that, I'm not really sure to like so much the closing sentence: it's true, it's an hint more at what I said in the beginning, the fact that the author is very well aware that she is playing with a controversial matter, what's the point to write shapeshifter stories if the shapeshifter characters don't behave a bit like animals? There are some primordial instincts that you have to consider and preserve, otherwise the shifter nature of the characters has no meaning to exist.

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

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

I really enjoy the shapeshifter short stories by Michelle Houston, usually they always have something special, a detail that made it worth to read them. In this case she plays a bit on the classical elements of the genre, the Alpha males and omega men. Ben is a turned shapeshifter, meaning that he didn't born to it but was turned by a rogue werewolf. In this paranormal world, otherworldly creatures like shapeshifters law themself with a Council, and that Council first killed the rogue werewolf and then "trained" Ben to be a "good" werewolf. If Ben wasn't able to fit, he would have been killed. Lucky him he fit but there is a catch: Ben is gay and there are no gays in the born werewolves. So he decided to live in an self-imposed isolation in a remote cabin.

Years later he receives a call: another innocent man was turned and Ben has to teach him how to behave or he will be killed. Nathan is young and cute, and gay... I don't know if Ben is more interested in training him to avoid him to be killed or for the fear to loose is only chance to have a mate.

This is really only a short story, probably I summarized all the story in those two sentences above. But as I said, it was very nice, and above all I liked Nathan's character: he is a sweet omega werewolf, so sweet and tender that he can be the perfect mate for Ben, that is not a real Alpha male. In a bigger contest, Ben would have been not the leader, but there, in their isolated cabin, he is the king. And as I said, Nathan is perfect for him; for a real Alpha, probably Nathan doesn't fit, he is not enough perky, he is too sweet-tempered, but for Ben he is right like he is.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Taming+the+Wolf

Amazon Kindle: Taming The Wolf

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

This short story is a big teaser, and I'm not sure I'm using the word in a positive meaning :-) Joke aside, I like it but after having just finished one of the nicer sex scene I read lately, I'm here eager to read more and the short story is ended, just like that, in a blink of an eye. (big pout).

First teasing: the cover. Have you seen that? well obviously you have, I'm posting it very big so you can see it. The cover is actually a big teasing even if it's not fully respectful of the main character, Ankerite is more a lost puppy than a dangerous killer like he appears in the cover. Nevertheless the cover served its scope, since it teased me into getting this short story, even if I usually don't read the shorts by this publisher.

Second teasing: the story. Yes, I know, many of you are skittish when dealing with human and "animal", and thinking at a boy/man who is not fully man and not fully wolf, a guy with eyes, ears and tail like a wolf and all the rest like a man, makes you cringe. Me? it makes me interested. What can I say, I find it cute. Even more when the guy not only has "external" evidences of his nature, but also some inner "urges", like the need to mating, and get all excited around his mate, Linden. And Linden is more a big mutt than a dangerous wolf... right, he can be dangerous if he wants, and he is an Alpha for his pack, but with Anke he is more a both lover than "brother", he represents all the family the boy lost and now he desperately needs.

Third and last teasing... big one this one: the end. Actually also the beginning and all in between. The reader is plunged in the middle of a story, there was something else before, and it seems really interesting, Anke's original family. They need to be wealthy, they hired a bodyguard for their "freak" son, and this bodyguard was a nice man. What happened? where is that nice man? Why Anke felt the need to leave his family when he was only 16 years old? And then what happened before?

On Linden's side: what is his story? Who is Darren? and Cole and Ron? what is his life before that made him such a nice, but strong man? And now that he has found his mate, what will happen to them? This story is just too short to fully satisfy me, I see a lot of potential in this setting, I really hope this is only an excerpt of something longer, just a taste to tease the reader to come back for more. To me, it worked perfectly.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_77&products_id=1477

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


Cover Art by Evelsys

An Itch to Scratch by Julia Talbot

This is actually the prequel of a short story I read some months ago, The Werewolf Code. I remember that my impression on that story was very good, but it was too short, and I also hoped that the author was willing to write more, above all on how the couple gets together, since it was hinted a very interesting story. Apparently I was not the only one to think that, since here is the story on how werewolf Deke and vampire Kasey meet.

Deke is a vampire bite addicted. Like other people have a sex dependency, Deke has an addiction on the thrill of a vampire bite, never sex is better than when it starts with him in the role of a willing donor. Usually werewolfes are strong Alpha males who reluctantly give up the power; instead Deke loves to take the submissive role in bed; but only in bed, since even if he likes to bottom, he is not a bottom in life.

Kasey is an old and hard to please vampire. He can't imagine to commit to only a man, but when he tastes for the first time Deke, his possessive side takes the lead and he finds himself unable to stay far from Deke for long.

Kasey and Deke are very different and not only as "breed". Kasey is a prim and proper type and instead Deke is a slob. Kasey is a bit aloof, not easy to express his feelings and instead Deke is a pack animals, he is very touchy feelings and he has no problem to voice his needs.

The love between Deke and Kasey is easy and almost funny; there is a lot of sex, but it is always light and joyful. Again the story is not very long, less than 60 pages, but this time I have enough development on the two characters to know them better and to also understand better why they are together and what is the basis of their love relationship.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1535

The Werewolf Code: The Moon by Julia Talbot

Deke is a werewolf, Kasey a vampire. They are PIs and lovers. It's not the first time I read about a pair of werewolf and vampire, but it's the first time that the two breeds seem to cohabitate without problem. Kasey is the mind and Deke the arm. Not that Deke isn't bright, but he is more feral, more instinct, and instead Kasey is cool and calculator: everything can be done at the right price...

They are engaged by a beautiful tall blonde werewolf woman to follow her husband, but soon they discover that Jason, the cheating husband, is not her husband, but a genetic experiment of her father gone mad. Jason has no control, and if they don't stop him, he could spread the virus around.

Unfortunately this is a short story, less than 30 pages, but if only in few pages, the plot is complete and enthralling. I think Deke and Kasey could be worthy material for another book, and maybe also one in which we can read how they meet and became a couple (apparently Deke was a willing donor and Kasey won him on an auction... just let me image that man naked on display...)

Anyway if you like a bit of action and a bit of eroticism (there are one or two scene pretty sexy), The Werewolf Code is a fast and enjoyable reading.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1191

Belling the Cat by Julia Talbot

This is the story of Jonny, the vampire club owner who played matchmaker between Deke and Kasey, and that, if it wasn't for a professional code, wouldn't have minded to take Deke for him. Jonny is an ancient vampire, and maybe he is also a little bored; when he is not behaving like a workaholic, he doesn't know what to do. Living among so many beautiful men and possible lovers left him with a void, no one of them is right for him. When he finds a cat thief on his private room he decides that is time to play a bit: he will make a contract with the werecat, he is free to take what he was searching and in exchange the cat-man will come back to him for six months, every night.

Luc is more used to be a cat than a man, and if Jonny wasn't willing to accept his cat nature, he wouldn't probably have accepted his term. But Jonny is more than willing, and Luc can be a cat, and behave like a cat, for most part of the time they spend together; Jonny is not disgusted, or squeaked when Luc nears him in cat form, or when he wants to groom his partner like a cat would do before napping. Those are probably the most funny, tender and challenging moment of the novella: how much do Julia Talbot dare to push the challenge to overcome the tenderness? it's a quite trickly game of balancing, and I think that not all the romance readers will be up to that challenge. On my side, I didn't mind: what is the reason to read a romance with a shifter character, when that character looses all his animal side in human form?

As I said, Luc is more a cat than a man, and he has a playful nature in both form. His feline side is quite clear in his attitude towards Jonny: once they tight the pact between them, Luc tries to get the maximum from it, even if he was, in theory, the weak partner. But he is weak only since he was forced into it, for all the other aspects of their relationship, Jonny has no interest to tame the cat, and Luc is more a pet than a beast, so there isn't so much to tame in him, maybe only to teach him to not play rough games inside: again a proof that Luc is more pet than man. I wouldn't use for him the word "beast" since it's too strong and wild, Luc's cat is more the cuddling than struggling type.

So yes, if you like a good shapeshifter romance, with a strong accent on the shifter theme, but at the same time, with a funny and playful insight on the genre, Belling the Cat is exactly like that.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2159

Amazon: Codes and Roses

Reading List:

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

There is a bit of Cinderfella, a bit of The Beauty and the Beast, and yes, also a bit of the Puss in Boots, all mixed together in a resulting tale that is a winning formula. Often I read historical fantasy tale, but most of the time they have not originality, they are only a way to tell a story of man love in frilly garments without the burden to do an historical accurate research. in Year of the Cat, Selah March is not trying to masquerade an historical tale with the fantasy freedom, she wants to tell you a fairy tale, a naughty fairy tale, and she reaches her purpose.

Etienne is the third and favorite son of an old merchant. His father always sheltered him from his older brothers and from the outside world. It's not that Etienne is dumb, it's only that he has a gentle soul and a tendency to obey if commanded, and not willingness to rebel. His father knows that, once he dies, Etienne will not survive at his brothers' rage and tells Etienne to run away, in a isolated cottage in the forest. To this exchange there is a witness, a silver cat.

The cat, that Etienne will call Jacques, is a cursed man. More than 50 years before he was cursed by a witch and now he doesn't remember anything of his previous life, he behaves more like a beast than a man, even when he is in his human form. Jacques is damned to be a cat by day and a man by night. And like a cat, he is drawn by pretty things, things with which he wants to play. At first he thinks Etienne being an angel, someone who will surely help him to break the curse. But when he realizes that Etienne is only an innocent boy, he changes his plans: Jacques will play with Etienne, he will use him for his pleasure, always treating him like a precious thing, his precious toy.

And so it's, the relationship between Jacques and Etienne is very strange, their sexual intercourse edges on pain, but then Jacques is always careful to provide Etienne with everything he needs, a shelter, food, books, even music papers. Only that Etienne has to behave, he is Jacques' property, more his slave than his master, even if Jacques tells people that Etienne is a wealthy marquis, and Jacques is his manservant.

It's strange, there is obviously a BDSM tone in the story, but more than a modern thing dipped in a fantasy context, I see Jacques' behavior like something I would expect from a cat, being jealous and protective at the same time of the things he loves. Even the play with knives I found very right, have you ever seen a cat playing with a bird or a mouse he caught? They can be very cruel. So yes, the BDSM tone sounds very good in this fantasy tale, and it didn't ring wrong as other time similar tale did.

And a nice surprise was also Etienne: in many fairy tale, the damsel in distress is not exactly a clever woman... Cinderella, Belle, and other colleagues, if not for the help of some fairy godmother or divine intervention, they were more sacrificial lambs than real heroines. Instead Etienne, even if debauched innocent, has an inner strength that will help him by his own. Etienne is not, and will never be, a leader or a fighter, at least not with his fists, but he is clever, and above all he is in love. But even if in love, he knows where to rely his trust, not on his brothers, or on a wealthy patron... even if in rags and scruffy, his cat / man is the right one. And to add a point to Etienne's cleverness, it didn't take him long to realize that the silver cat Jacques was the same man who appeared to him one night, barely few hours... I do think Belle took longer to find out who the Beast was!

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

Amazon Kindle: Year Of The Cat

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

It's not the first time that I read a shapeshifter story by Michelle Houston and that I noticed that she is able to put credibility and common sense in a story that is for definition something else, a paranormal story. Her shapeshifter characters are men living in the society, and they have to deal with it. Even if they are otherworldly creature, they are not excused to abide to the human law.

And so we have Michael, jaguar shifter that, in a moment of distraction, was taken in shifted form by hunters in search of animal for a zoo. Now it's three months that Michael is forced to be in his jaguar form, to avoid people knowing his true nature and in this way, give away his people secret. While he is in that form, he has a lot of thinking to do, he can do only that, and he realizes how he wronged with his partner, Danny, and the stupid fight they had. But other than these "high" thoughts, he also thinks that he misses the simple things of life, like a shower and television, things that, when he was in human form and recreminating on the loss of his lover, he didn't consider enough to distract him.

This is a short story, 20 pages, but I think it's a very good paranormal story, with two characters, Danny and Michael, that are normal men, in their supernatural nature.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Unleashing+the+Jaguar/exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Unleashing the Jaguar

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

I have a strange feeling at the end of this novel, I read a paranormal novel that is not a paranormal... No it's not the late hour that makes me going crazy, it's only that the author chooses to tell a shapeshifter erotic romance, and he stated it clearly more or less from the first moment, when Brad, after having sex with Linn, finds out that his new lover is not exactly human, but then they behave like it was nothing important, like being Linn a puca, one third horses, one third wold and one third elf, it's like having a strange hair color. This is probably the most interesting and original side of the book, in a way being a fae creature is not something that makes you "different", Linn is your everyday cowboy, and he and Brad behave like any normal man out there.

Brad is a sci-fiction author in searching of a nice and quite place to write. Just out from an abusive relationship, he wants only to rest and relax. But when he arrives to Linn's ranch, he changes his idea: Linn is a wonderful stud, and Brad wants a piece of that. There is very few trouble, or remorse on having only a month together, Brad and Linn are having sex from night one. But soon after their first encounter, Linn can't hide his true nature, and Brad understands that the man who just left his bed is not a man... any other man would have packed and gone in a blur of a second, Brad instead simply asks if Linn has any idea to kill him, and to his negative answer, he invites the man back in bed.

From that moment on, Brad and Linn are having sex steadily every night and for more than one time at night. No matter that outside there is a strange creature that is after Brad, no matter that that same creature sometime lurks in the shadow just outside Brad's cabin, and that makes his presence known with strange rumors, when Linn is in bed with Brad, nothing can distract them. Actually Brad leaves the cabin only the first day, to go shopping for some food, other than that, he spends all the novel inside the cabin, writing, cooking and waiting for Linn to come back home and having sex.

See? that's the most normal paranormal romance I have ever read. It's like the author was thinking that, any paranormal event he could write, the reader already knew, and so why not instead be all happy with some nice and good and often and detailed sex scenes? Yes, yes, there is an evil monster out there, yes, yes, Linn is not exactly Mr Ordinary Man, but does it matter? No.

Another thing I noticed is the approach to the relationship and sex; it's erotic without being sugary. That is quite a difficult task to achieve; it's a dry and good approach, and I use "dry" not with a negative connation: Linn and Brad like to have sex, and this is clear to the reader; they are open and free with their sexuality, and I like their down to earth attitude towards sex. At first Brad and Linn lust after each other and nothing else. There is no romantic idea, Brad is thinking to have fun for one month and so is Linn. The sex is good, and as I said before, even when Brad finds out the true, it's not so important, in a month Brad will be far from this place, and while he is there he can have fun. Even when the relationship between them evolves in something more, still they face it with a careless and happy-to-go perspective: why bother too much with such uneventful things like having a relationship with an otherworldly being?

For sure High Country is not your typical paranormal romance, even in the writing style, with both men pondering aloud in their mind about things. But among among the abundance of paranormal romance out there, I felt like this one was different, in a good way.

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-High_Country-991.aspx

Amazon: High Country

Setting the rules for the Rainbow Awards, first phase will start soon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/799266.html

Justin, a commander of a garrison near the Wall in norther Britain meets a man of legend: Falan is a shape-changer, an healer who can shapeshifter in a grey wolf.  Justin is not so startled to meet the man, cause he is born in Britain and his mother has raised him with the old tales. Both Justin and Falan prefer men upon women, and so it's pretty clear and simple that they can share something together, without too much problem: they start a relationship, both maintaining their life, but finding a point amid the path to connect.

But Justin, even if living far from the politics, is a man of Rome, and when Rome calls he has to respond. But if the call can put in danger Falan and his people, what Justin will do?

Taming the Mountain Mist is a smooth tale, you have a feeling of peace reading it. It's true, there is a clash between two world, but Justin seems to be a man that can conciliate these two worlds. I'd like to read a bit more on this story, less then 40 pages, cause, even if it's a paranormal tale, it's also an historical one, and I have always liked the Roman tales setting in Britain (beautiful one, Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf).

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2193

Reading List:

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

I was pleasantly surprised by the first book in the Coyotes of Yellowstone series, and the second book it's up to the previous if not better. What I liked in Coyote Non Grata was the idea that coyotes shifters were mostly more animal then men, and even when they shift in human form they still hold most of their animal nature.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the clothes when shapeshifters change? I read various thesis, one even, if I remember well, was that the animal brought along with him a backpack where he stuffed the clothes and then trotted away with the backpack clutched in his snout. For her coyotes Lena Austin chooses the full "natural" way: they are naked before and after the shifting and they remain naked, at least since someone decides to borrow them a piece of clothes, maybe regretting to cover that fine body. So yes, the feral nature of these shifters, proved both by the "naked" thing, but also by their unfamiliarity with human language, is something that I liked in the first book and that I find again in this one. What probably is new, and made this second book even more interesting, is a undertone funny mood; I can't say more, to not spoil the book, but even the chosen pair is in a way, a bad but funny joke.

Will is a injured coyote; alone or with the little help from his fellow coyote, he can't heal, and so he chooses to die alone and far from the pack. During his search for the perfect spot to die, he stumbles upon Lee's cottage in the wilderness of the Yellowstone park. Lee's grandparents raised goats, but now the farm is empty and the barn is the perfect place for Will. Only that Lee is not ready to see a now human Will dying, and with the simple aid of few drugs, he saves the man to find himself a very eager lover.

Lee explains to himself Will's strange behavior with the "feral" people theory: legends say that some men chose to live in the wilderness and they lost contact with other humans. So Lee is not particularly scared by Will, and instead, being Lee lonely and gay, and not shy when dealing with sex, he is more than happy to satisfy some of the primal urges of Will.

The sex is good but it's not that makes interesting the book. I can't really say more, but I was almost laughing to tear with the scene when Will discovers Lee's true nature. And also what happens next, with Lee's quiet acceptance of that, and the family routine they build together... well, someone could have some "squeaky" feelings, but I found it tender and sweet, with again, a lingering taste of humor. True, Will doesn't come out like a very civilized man, but no one has never said otherwise: Will is more coyote than man, and I believe that he is more comfortable in his coyote form. And then, if you remember "Will E. Coyote", he was full of resources, but not particularly clever ;-)

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1210

Series: Coyotes of Yellowstone
1) Coyote Non Grata: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/602431.html
2) Wild Thing

Reading List:

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

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.

http://www.pinkpetalbooks.com/index.php?/Lex-Valentine/Fire-Season-by-Lex-Valentine.html

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon Kindle: Fire Season

Reading List:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading List:

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On the Ragged Edge of the World is the classical shapeshifter romance. Darren is a former shapeshifter hunter who got renegade after falling in love with an Alpha pack leader, Aden... in the novella that introduced this longer story, we read how they met, during an Halloween party where Darren was masked as a very sexy cat... woman! And so you have a little hint that despite being an hunter, Darren looks more like a pretty boy than a lethal killer. Not the easiest thing if you want to be accepted by the wolves of your man. Plus Darren's former work is not exactly top in the list of ideal work.

The story is a good mix of romance and adventure. Basically it's Darren the one who was tamed, and not Aden. Even before they met, Aden was sophisticated and cultured, he is an antique dealer, mostly books, and even if very handsome, and strong, he wears glasses and executive dresses. On the other hand Darren was a troubled teenager who was basically raised to be an hunter; the woman who did so is also the one who betrayed him, and so Darren is not exactly the most trusting man. But despite their difference, Darren and Aden think as once, and they are never in disagreement, above all in front of the pack. What I like of this couple is that it should be easy to create conflict, and angst, making them a trouble relationship, and instead that is never a problem. And as I said, Aden, who should be the lethal one, after all is the more stable and quite, and instead who always gets in trouble is Darren.

There is a bit of play of the small and cute man stereotype (Darren), who can take down the big bad wolf, and I'm sure that Darren plays the submissive role in front of the pack, but deep inside he considers himself at the same level of Aden, even if never once he let it out with Aden. All in all Aden is not a real "big bad wolf", and sincerely I didn't find in him the blood thirst or the forceful behavior that often I found in similar characters. Probably this is the most interesting thing of all the book: the preamble of the story is quite common, and also the plot, but what makes the book different, are its characters, and the more lethal men (or women) are not the one who look like that.

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

Series:
1) Trick Of Silver (Calendar Boys - October): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/418621.html
2) On The Ragged Edge Of The World

Reading List:

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

If not for the sex that is quite hot and explicit, this could have been a sweet romance, since the story and the turn of events are simple and nice, not at all dramatic, and even the evil of the moment, is so harmless that goes out of the scene without too much trouble.

Koffe is new in town but he has already lost his job: his boss' daughter didn't take well that he refused her advances, and not even when he told her that he is gay she understood. She made her father fired him for theft, and so now Koffe is trying to drawning his sorrow in a black coffee in the local diner. To help him arrives Leo, a big and strong handsome man, actually a dream comes true for Koffe. Leo offers him a job and Koffe replies with another type of offering. It doesn't take long that they are going steady and happy, but there is a secret that Leo is hiding.

Actually the discovery of Leo's secret is almost "innocent": Koffe is not at all shocked and he takes the news quite well. Comes out that all the town is not exactly what it seems, and Koffe has probably finally found a place where he can be openly gay and happily ever after.

As I said the sex is good and in 42 pages long happens quite often. This is a little nice piece of erotica.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1158

Reading List:

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I was curious to read this novella since somewhere else it was said that a reader was shocked by the sex in shift form inside it... so, since I'm naughty and curious, I was expecting something very odd and a boundaries pushing. But I realized that probably I read too much and of every shade of erotica, since I actually found this one quite mild mannered, and truth be told, I have read books with a lot more of shattered boundaries. Soul Searchers is a nice shapeshifter novella which mainly aspect for me is the relationship between Timber and Micah.

At the end of the XVIII century, Timber was the mulatto son of a landowner; thanks to the wealth of his father no one dared to question Timber right to be a gentleman and he went to the military academy. There he met Micah, a same age young man, but this is all they have in common. Where Timber is strong and daring, Micah is more fragile and in need of protection. Micah deeply loves Timber and he would do anything for him, even die. And this is the destiny Timber's father reserves to him, but Timber rescues him, an event that will be repeated time and again in the course of their relationship. That night Timber and Micah are turned into werewolves, and they choose to live alone. Centuries after, Timber is the Alpha leader of a werewolves pack made of various renegade, gays, lesbians and also people who are simple non judgmental. Only that the nearer werewolves pack is not content of their existence.

The following fight for leadership is not so important from my point of view, again what I found interesting is seeing how Timber and Micah in time turned in a "perfect" couple: Micah is not and will never be someone who is able to defend himself, and Timber assumes the role of protector for his mate. In an age of equal right, someone else would probably arrive to regret to have a so weak mate, but instead Timber cherishes Micah and never once I read or feel like he would have preferred something different for his life. The roles are clear, Timber is the strong pillar of their couple, and Micah is the love and heart.

The ending is maybe a bit too much sugary, but I'm not against a bit of sugar here and there.

https://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.aspx?i=50

Reading List:

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

The novella travels in two different parallel universe: a fantasy China of 400 B.C. and modern San Francisco.

In the first universe Zhong Shi is a young shapeshifter dragon who is in love with Chen Jing. Chen Jing is much older than Zhong Shi and he assumes a bit the role of master in their relationship, in all the meanings of the term. He teaches Zhong Shi how to behave among human, and also how to master his powers. Then, during a mission, Chen Jing is cursed, and he becomes a totally burden for Zhong Shi. The young dragon doesn't reject his new role as caretaker, but probably it's too much for him.

In modern San Francisco Sebastian is a young College student who is in a fated relationship with Luke. The sex is good, but truth be told there is not much more between them. Then Sebastian meets David, a way older IT consultant; David is past forty, almost fifty years old but he came out only two years before. In the blink of a moment, he saw his entire world crash down, his ex wife took all his money and his lover dumped him just before he moved to San Francisco. Even if older, David is like a newborn baby who trusts Sebastian as a friend. And when things between Sebastian and Luke get worst, maybe also as something more.

It's nice to try to relate the fantasy dragon pair with the modern men: who is who? it's not clear since the power games inside the couple change a lot. The dragon pair started as master and ward, to then changing in burden and caretaker. The modern couple started as young student and experienced mam, to moving toward lovers and in a way shortening the age difference.

I have to admit that I prefer the shapeshifter dragon pair, they are more sexy than the modern one. Today Sebastian is an interesting character, but David seems to me a bit too weak; maybe, knowing the end, it's not a wrong side of him, but still, I really had the idea that Sebastian was way more smart and interesting than David. For how he behaves, I also think that David's character was too old: all right, he has to be a man who came late to realize who he really was, but maybe a thirtyish man would have been more up to the character than a fortyish. Anyway this is only a novella, and it's to praise how the author manages to bring on the roles play not letting the reader being sure of who is who almost till the end. Nice supporting character role for Hector, Sebastian's cat, who has a scene all of his own and a really interesting personality.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2023

Reading List:

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The novella is quite nice, a mix of western yaoi and romance, even if the yaoi component is not so strong to maybe discourage the M/M readers who are not fan of that type of novels.

Drew is a renegade werewolf, he was kicked out of his pack at 28 years old when he finally decided to come out from the closet. Drew is not an old fashioned shapeshifter, he is an website developer and so he has no problem at all to pack his things and move to an isolated cabin near a small town. And so he jumps on his bike and heads toward a new life. On the trail, he stops to do a "change" stop, means that he needs to shift, and he stumbles upon a strange creature, a young boy with silverly skin and two little black wings like a bat. The boy is frightened and shocked, and Drew decides to help him: astride Drew's bike, with Drew's leather jacket covering the bat-boy's wings, they ride toward the sunset.

Ciaran is an half-fairy half-demon who was summoned on earth. Till that moment he lived a secluded life on Fairy Land, his grandfather raised him only since he had not the courage to kill him as an infant. Ciaran's mother, a fairy, was kidnapped by a demon, and Ciaran is the result of that dramatic event. He is a shame for his fairy relatives, and when he is summoned on earth, the men who did it wanted to treat him like a slave. So Ciaran is quite skittish, and when he meets Drew he is all big black eyes blurry and frightened.

Drew and Ciaran start a cohabitation in Drew's little cabin that is almost a marriage: Drew works at home to gain the bread, and Ciaran cooks and cleans, and during his free time, rides a bicycle up and down the hill (see where I see a bit of yaoi influence, other than in the big black eyes?). Even if Drew is gay and attracted by Ciaran, he doesn't do nothing to frighten more the boy, and Ciaran, not used to human or fairy contact, his totally unaware that there can be more between two men than sharing house and meal... at least till the moment he doesn't see a soap opera on television and he starts to wonder.

All in all the novella is a sweet romance, with barely a kiss and something more at the very end of the book. But it's nice and tender, and I like the hybrid that is Ciaran, even if the demon's side of him shows only in his wings, there is nothing of demoniac in him other than that.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/savingciaran.htm

Reading List:

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This is only a short story, less than 20 pages, but it surprised me with the ability to have an unexpected but well developed turn right in the middle.

At the beginning of the story Erik is a leopard shifter who decided to live alone in a property in the wood since he was tired to mourn the lack of a mate. Erik is gay and he loves his pack, he loves his enlarged family made of his brothers, sisters and nephews, but he was tired to be "pointed out" how the unmated leopard. There were no other gay leopard in the pack and in the end Erik chose to stay alone.

Then one night he sees a man swimming in the lake near his home. Erik smells another shifter leopard and decides to make friends; the other man, Brandon, is younger and apparently skittish, but when Erik lets the guard down, Brandon unveils a stronger core and a very alpha attitude. It is not a chance encounter, and Brandon has his own plan on Erick.

The sudden change in Brandon's behavior is reflected in Erik; Erik is older and a strong leopard, but he is a beta, he needs the lead of an alpha man, and living along, he misses that leader. Apparently Brandon is not the right man, he is too young and not enough forceful, but Brandon is playing a role, like a nymph in the wood who is enthralling a passerby with his singing and the otherworldly beauty of his body.

Then the story moves on to an very hot sexual encounter that seal their budding relationship, and from the encounter you can already see how that relationship will be and who will play the top. In the end, a real "bravo" to the author to pack all of that in only 20 pages.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Embracing+the+Leopard/exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Embracing The Leopard

Reading List:

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HellBourne series is not exactly a romance but more a discovery journey. It's the story of Lucifer "Luc" Hellbourne, half-fae half-devil, who is trying to find his place in the human and otherworldly world. After 20 years spent as Alpha male's lover of a werewolf pack, Luc is on the loose; his werewolf lover dumped him to marry a woman and have kids, a thing that even Luc, with all his special power, can't have. Wandering alone after so many years living in a pack is disconcerning and when Luc sees a night club called the River Styx, he feels a bit at home, and enters the club and a new stage in his life.

Obviously the Master Vampire of the club, Nikko, is all of the idea to make Luc his own personal thrall, and Luc, at first, is not against the idea: Nikko is a very good piece of a man, not exactly the emaciated vampire of legends. He is a stud, and Luc is not against the idea to have a rebound lover like him. Nikko is thinking to have found his personal pet, and in his magnanimity, to give protection to Luc, but he doesn't know that Luc has no need of his protection, Luc stays and goes when he wants and how he likes.

At the same moment Luc is in a three-way: his former lover Bran wants him back, his actual lover Nikko doesn't want to let him go and there is a new young vampire with the face of an angel, Jerrod, who needs his help, and how can a demon not being drawn by an angel?

Hellbourne is a continuing series, I have the feeling that also the following novella in the series will be centered around Luc and his search for a new home, and probably his real mate. The quality of the story is way better than the first attempts by this same author, she always plays with stereotype (the Alpha Male werewolf, the Master Vampire), but this time they are all elements mixed in a slightly more original way. Not that the previous short stories weren't good, but I feel like this new novella being more mature and complete.

http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?ISBN_num=609

Amazon Kindle: Hellbourne: Lost & Found

Reading List:

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Amber Kell continues in her paranormal series this time exploring another classical hero of the genre, the vampire lover.

Calvin is a young carpenter who is working for Anthony, the architecture who is building a paranormal posh hotel. Anthony's consultant for all it's vampire is Alesandro, a fashionable and very handsome vampire, who since the first moment is attracted by Calvin. But Calvin has two reasons to avoid Alesandro's attention, one he doesn't see what a gorgeous vampire like Alesandro could see in a simple man like Calvin, and two, he has an hidden plan to kidnap Anthony. Calvin's sister was taken in captivity by a stranger and the price for her freedom is Anthony.

In comparison to the other two books in the series, Courting Calvin is a little less sexy and a bit more simple. I think it's almost a passing book, a little step more in the series; Calvin and Alesandro are side characters in the series, friends of friends, and so it's their story, almost a side story in the main series.

As always I think it has potential, but in this case the potential is more linked to the whole series than in this single story that nevertheless it's necessary you read if you want to follow the series. And finally I have a little doubt: in book two the author says that Anthony's grandfather is Zeus; in this book Anthony's grandfather is Odin... they are two different grandfathers, one by his mother side and one by his father side, or the author gets a bit confused? Probably I have to read the following books in the series to have an answer.

http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?ISBN_num=142

Amazon Kindle: Courting Calvin

Series: Moon Pack
1) Attracting Anthony: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/558545.html
2) Baiting Ben: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/640308.html
3) Courting Calvin

Reading List:

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In a way a paranormal romance like this one brings on an issue that is quite common in every day life: is it possible to have a long distance relationship? Especially when the relationship is at the beginning and the bonds are not yet tight enough and there is more unbridled passion than deep love?

There is no doubt that sex between Adair and Lachlan is good and both of them know that they have something special, but they hardly meet once a month, and this is a bad period for Adair to be left alone, his werewolf nature asks him to mate and Lachlan is not beside him to satisfy that urge. When the book starts, Adair and Lachlan just parted way, Lachlan to a mission with an unwelcomed partner, a psychic, Keith, and Adair in the heat of the mating season, with Cedric, his former lover and sire, that comes back in his life in the worst moment.

Both men will be tempted, Lachlan while dreaming of Adair and having Keith intruding in his mind, as if he is seeing a free porn, and Adair who, despite his hatred for Cedric, can't prevent his nature to desire him, the man who made him the wolf he is now. The tension mounts, and it's interesting that almost all the sex scenes, hot and often, are in the minds of both lovers, reminiscing their past encounters; and it's interesting to guess who will surrender to temptation, the man-man Lachlan, apparently the weaker of the two, or the man-wolf Adair, strong and all alpha male? Who will be the cheater, the who usually is the weaker breed, or the wolf, who is notorious to be a very possessive and one-mate mind breed?

Dance Wars 3 confirms the trend of the two previous books, very pushed on the erotic side of the story, these men tend to think more with their bodies than with their minds, and this sometime drives them to do some big mistakes, but in the end love is the strongest force, and it allows men to forgive, if not to forget.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1120

Series: Dance Wars
1) Left Side of the Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/464190.html
2) Ruled by You: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/512919.html
3) Bad Moon Rising

Reading List:

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

It's not often that a book makes me cry, but when happens I can pour tears like if it's raining... or maybe I'm in tear since it's 2 in the morning and I can't let it go this book since I reached the last page... In a way or the other, Lone was a wonderful shapeshifter story, one that probably I can read over and over and always pouring some tears.

Seth is a small and cute man, 32 years old, at five foot five he looks most a teenager than a full grown man. And he is strange, sometime skittish, sometime cuddling, Seth reacts to the mood of his partner, when he is happy Seth is more than happy when he is sad Seth is more than sad... yes, actually Seth seems very much like a puppy, maybe since he is a werewolf? But Seth is not a normal werewolf, in a wolf pack he would be an omega, but since he is "different" he is a lone wolf, and a wolf without pack is easily a prey. How is it possible that a small man like Seth, who probably is also a small wolf, survived for all these years without the safety of a pack? Seth was always alone, wandering from city to city trying to find the one with less outworld creatures. And the little small town where he moved three months before seemed perfect, and he met also Rafe, six foot six of muscle and an even bigger heart. Rafe is gentle and caring, he has not a bad bone in him, and most of the safety Seth feels near him is due to the fact that no one dares to challenge such a mountain of man. But while they are visiting Washington DC they stumble upon a werewolves pack, and they are not at all scared by a simple human, and it's upon little Seth to protect his Rafe.

I have always had a kink for the story where there is a big physical difference between partners, I don't know if it's actually a theme, like the May / December or the Silver Romance... but Rowan McBride is one of my dealer in this theme. Here the contrast is even more nice, since there is also a disparity in strength, and it's not Rafe that is the strongest in the couple.

Both characters are really wonderful. I like how Seth struggles with himself, how he is easily pleased but the simplest cuddle, since he has never had one in his life; Seth is like a starving man and even a piece of bread is like a banquet for him. He is fiercely bonded with Rafe but at the same time he doesn't believe in a future for them, and so he has never asked, not for love neither for affection, or the simple things like "how old are you?"... Seth is like a stray dog Rafe collected on the street one night, and Seth is waiting for Rafe to be tired of him and to kick him out.

On the other hand Rafe doesn't understand why a clever and pretty man like Seth would be willing to set with an average man like him. And when he discovers the real nature of Seth, it's almost a shock, but in a way, it's also one more proof that Seth doesn't need him, he can take care of himself. Rafe at first doesn't understand that Seth needs a "pack", a family, even if of two, and he needs someone who is willing to play the alpha. Seth can be a man, but he is also a wolf, and his wolf needs the structure of a pack, the pack gives him safety. And Seth needs someone who is not scared or ashamed by his wolf, someone who lets his wolf out and play... yes, sometime Seth behaves like a dog (nuzzling, cuddling, licking), and he needs that.

Lone is a complex novel, not much for the plot, but for the development of the relationship between Seth and Rafe; the tension mounts, and even if I knew that I was leading toward an happy ending, nevertheless I was crying during the ride, and this is only thanks to the two characters (and the author who wrote them).

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

Amazon: Lone

Reading List:

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon Kindle: Baiting Ben

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

Reading List:

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Joely Skye's shapeshifter are not the usual strong men and women of the paranormal romances, more often than not they are renegade shapeshifters, with a troubled past and with a lot of behavioral issues.

In Feral we have two example of them; Ethan is a shapeshifter cougar and one of the last of his breed. Ethan's past is not so clear, from clue here and there, we can understand that he lost his mother when he was still a child and managed to become an adult living more or less on the streets. Apparently Ethan was a cute boy and sought the help of older man, he bartered his body for a warm meal and a place where to stay; Ethan was wise even then, and he only chose nice men, who didn't treat him. At some point, it's not clear how and when, he began a relationship with a female werewolf, even her older than Ethan, a former friend of his long lost mother. Actually I didn't understand if it was a sexual relationship or not, but for sure it was a close bond, and Lila, the woman, was killed by her pack for this reason, and that same pack tortured Ethan before he managed to escape. After that traumatic experience, Ethan chose his animal side and now it's 8 years that he is prowling the woods as a cougar.

He is not bothering noone, but Doug, an Alpha male of a wolf pack has some hidden reasons (also them not quite clear), to hunt down and capture "feral" shifters. Ethan is his last prey and he manages to take him captive with the help of Bram. Bram is a werewolf of the same pack that previously tortured Ethan, but he was only a 16 years old boy back then, and an outcast himself. He doesn't agree with his Alpha's idea, but Bram is an omega inside the pack and so the last who can say something in the matter. Plus Bram is gay, and he has not a mate: the Alpha Male, Doug, uses him like a boy toy, and Bram's quite submissive nature let him doing so.

They are an odd couple these two: Ethan a lonely man for nature, who thinks at sex more like barter money than something connected to feelings, and Bram, an animal pack till his core, who sees sex like the only moment when he is allowed to feel something. It will be not simple for them to connect on a common ground, and I don't feel like Bram will overcome all his inner issues... or maybe he has nothing to overcome since being a submissive is his true nature. Anyway, Ethan doesn't want and will not take on the role of Alpha for Bram, he will only allow Bram to be his fellow companion during the path.

The story is part of a common universe, but it's not strictly connected to the other books, you can read it as a stand-alone book without problem. The author writes M/M romance in this universe with the name of Joely Skye, and het romance with the name of Jorrie Spencer. Most of the supporting characters in the book are previously appeared in other books, and so if the reader questions about them, he can probably find some answers reading the previous novels, but still I have the feeling that both Ethan than Bram's past was not fully developed or explained. Great part of Ethan and Bram's problems are legacy of their upbringing and so I wouldn't have minded to have a bit more of an insight on it.

The nice aspect of the book is that it's quite "touchy" feeling, there is a lot of nuzzling and cuddling, and hugs and comfort... it allows the reader to "feel" the characters, above all to feel their fragility.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/feral

Amazon Kindle: Feral

Series:
1) The Strength of the Pack by Jorrie Spencer
2) The Strength of the Wolf by Jorrie Spencer
3) Marked by Joely Skye: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/199444.html
4) Puma by Jorrie Spencer
5) Feral by Joely Skye

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Cover Art by Anne Cain

This is not absolutely a "light" tale, and the cover unfortunately didn't do it justice.

Dark Waters is a tale which has its roots in the old Scottish legends, and it's setting in a time when people still believed in those legends. The Eldren, fey people or similar, were mythical creatures, sometime in human form, sometime in animal form, and sometime in between. From a period during while they probably commanded on the world, now their mixed blood sons are among the ordinary people, even if they don't lead a "normal" life: they are travellers, leaders or monks, always a step above the common mob.

Flein is one of them and he chose to be a traveller. He wanders all over the world, being immortal, or at least with a life span much greater than a full human. Now he is travelling in the Highland, and he is warned against a waterhorse (a shapeshifter horse who lives along the loch) who preys on human. But Flein is not scared, maybe he is also a bit fascinated; and when he meets the creature, first as a beautiful stallion and then as an even more beautiful naked man, he manages to tame it (or at least he thinks so). He named it Donnchadh, and probably he would be content like that, having seen and met a wonderful creature, but someone else in the Glen is accusing Donnchadh to be a murderer and a rapist, preying on the woman of the clan MacAllister.

Now Donnchadh is not a saint, and indeed he preys on human, but he is an honest beast, as said one member of the clan; he only kills if attacked or for food, and he absolutely doesn't rape his "preys". Donnchadh is not "happy" that someone else is hunting on his ground and threating his "people": in his mind, the Loch and the Glen are his ground, given to him centuries ago by his father, and he has to protect them, but more like a shepherd with his sheep than a pater familias. And so with the help of Flein he is on the trail of the real murderer.

It's not an easy tale, but probably it respects the myths and legends. Donnchadh is not a "shapeshifter" for romance novel, he is scaring and dangerous and he probably accepts Flein's friendship (and something more), only since the man is not enterily human... he is more like him than he wants to admit.

Flein on the other hand treat Donnchadh as a fascinating creature. For most of the book, Flein thinks to him like an "it", not a human. He is honest enough to admit that he is interested in him also in a very personal way, but at the beginning I read that interest like the one you could have for an exotic creature, that you don't consider entirely civilized... more or less the same interest an explorer could have for a native who he doesn't consider at his level. But then Flein realizes that Donnchadh has his own behavioural code, that he knows what is right and wrong, only that sometime what is right for him, it's wrong for someone else. Do you know that conquerors used to say that the natives were not human being but more animal since they didn't know how to distinct between Good and Evil? Problem is that they had as parameter their own Good and Evil...

Anyway this is only a novella, but it's a very good one; so close your eyes and try to not look at the cover when you will click on the buy button! Oh, one last thing, for an Ellora's Cave novel, there is not so much sex as you would expect, and sometime this is not a fault ;-)

http://www.jasminejade.com/pc-6586-26-dark-waters.aspx

Reading List:

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The first impression I had of this novel it was for it to be longer, and I'm not speaking of the length of the book, but more on a space time thing: the novel is so full packed of action that when you finish it, you are almost surprise to realize that it lasted only few days in the life of the two main characters.

The feeling to be thrown into the story starts since the first pages, when T.J. meets MacGowan at the supermarket with the most old way to meet a possible lover, colliding you cart with the other one. T.J. was chatting with his best friend Arden of the impossibility to find a lover since when T.J. gets excited he tends to shift into a tabby cat without notice, and the possible lovers don't take it very well, most of the time they run away screaming. And then here he is, the perfect man, MacGowan, handsome and gentle, and apparently the non judgmental type, since he has the look of a man who lives day per day in most possible easiest way. And MacGowan is more than interested in T.J. and fate wants that he is also his new neighbor, so it's easy for them to meet. But when they are together, T.J. tends to shift even more in uncontrollable way than usual, and MacGowan finds a strange cat in his house where he went to sleep with a man... and he decides to adopt that cat and naming him Buddy. And Buddy / T.J. finds himself to like his new life as domestic cat, maybe more than his life as man.

I like both characters, but truth be told, I like most MacGowan, that has not the chance to shine like T.J.; this is more or less T.J.'s story and MacGowan remains a bit in second line, and I have to search for bit of him, like crumbs of bread. In the blurb, it seems that T.J. is the steady man in the relationship, he is a college professor where MacGowan is a beach boy; but as I read him, T.J. is a man that has still to decide what he wants from life, that sometime let his fears drive him more than his heart. MacGowan instead is a man who was burnt in the past more time than once since he lets his feelings drive him and he firmly believes in love. T.J. with his fears can't see it and is unable to really trust MacGowan to do the right thing.

In a way, T.J. is more open to love when he is in cat form; T.J. man and T.J. cat are two different completely being, and this is the most interesting thing in the novel. T.J. cat is a cat, and his priorities are totally different: food, catnap and cuddles (when he wants) are the only things important for him. Willa Okati manages to write a very personal character with this cat, totally separating him from his human side, and avoiding in this way the "trap" of bestiality, that often drives away certain readers. T.J. Buddy is not interested in MacGowan in a sexual way, MacGowan, from his cat perspective, is a slot machine for food and scratching behind the ears, nothing else. And when T.J. is a man, he looses all the "feline" behavior, in a way, it wouldn't do it worst if he preserved some of them, since T.J. Buddy has a better predisposition toward building a relationship, even if with hidden purposes.

Anyway the story is very nice, funny, fast paced and with a familiar mood that not often I find in paranormal story, and I like it.

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Tomcat_Jones-917.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Tomcat Jones

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Cover Art by Marci Gass

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon Kindle: Northern Love

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Cover Art by Anne Cain

This is a very short story but with a nice setting and a little surprise for me; it's part of the HeatSheet by Phaze, usually a series of short stories with a common theme, and this one was the shapeshifter nature of one or both the main characters, and for this particular story, there was a warning for the readers on the Bondage and D/s content. So I was really expecting one of that usual story on pleasure / pain play, and even the submissive nature of the shapeshifter was not an original thing, since who read paranormal romances is quite common with the role of the omega males in the pack.

But the surprise is that the BDSM elements of the story are almost non-existent, true, the story is set in a BDSM in live club, where scenes and public display of dominance are common things, but our naive little puppy wolf finds an unexpected haven inside it. The first night he is welcomed by Raphael, the owner of the club, and so he is free from the usual charade of finding a suitable Master for his submissive nature. And when Raphael realizes that Nathaniel is not only a virgin to the BDSM world, but to any sexual experience, he decides also to exempt him from all the usual "testing" steps of a new relationship between Master and pet. It's not said that they will not take place in the future, but in this short story we are exempted with Nathaniel as well: the story turns on moving from BDSM to sweet romance, the only sex scene is almost "vanilla".

Another thing that remain in the frame without taking center stage is the shifter nature of Nathaniel. Actually, if not for a very short moment, we have no proof that Nathaniel is a shifter, and he never once shifts. The shifter nature serves to the authors only to give a boundaries more for Nathaniel to overcome, since it's not in a shifter male to be submissive. Knowing that I'm not very fond of BDSM stories, I'm not at all disappointed that this story turned to be more sweet than anything else, and instead, I wouldn't mind to see more developed the shifter nature of Nathaniel.

Anyway, for a short story, it is very well developed, more centered on the characters than the setting (and so it's maybe explained why the BDSM content remained in the shadow).

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Bound+by+Leather/exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Bound By Leather

Reading List:

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First of all, sorry if I seem shallow, but have you seen that cover? This is the classical example of a very simple cover that catch my eyes. It's nothing of exceptional, probably it's a stock photo, but guys, I like it! It's perfect for the story and it's very nice.

And now let's talk about this novella. Rody is a coyote shifter who is kicked out his pack for a very stupid reason... actually at first, the fact that he is gay, and the only gay inside the pack, is not part of that reason: the pack in which Rody lives is not a mature and progressive pack, like some unbelievable packs of other paranormal romances. The members of the pack live almost all the time in shifted form, and rarely they shift in their human form; when they do that, they are naked both literally than figuratively: they are not used to the human lifestyle, they even have problem to communicate.

So when Rody is kicked out, he directs toward a "human" cabin, knowing that there he will find easy food, since he is wounded and unable to hunt. Rody behaves mostly as a stray dog, stealing food trying to not be catch by the owner of the cabin, but Jeff is too clever to be fooled. A Native American of Comanche heritage, Jeff is aware of the existence of the shifter people, even if he believed they were extinct; so when he finds Rody, he knows who he has in front of him, and it's not "only" a scared coyote.

The relationship between Rody and Jeff start till the beginning respecting some basic rules: Rody is not a leader, he is a beta male who is not used and able to live alone, he needs an alpha male; Jeff is not used to the pack rules, but he has enough character to be that alpha male for Rody. Both Rody than Jeff are gay, so there is no much question on how their relationship will evolve, and truth be told, being both gay it's not even the main reason for that development: Rody is a pack animal, even in human form, and when he finds a man that he can consider a leader, for him it's natural to let the leader have all of him. Their relationship is based more on instinct than feeling.

This is only a novella, and I believe that, if it will have a good welcome from readers, the author is thinking to write more. I would be not against the idea to read more, Rody's character is exactly in the middle between a coyote and a human, and I wouldn't mind to read how his relationship with Jeff will evolve, if he will lean more on his human side, or if he will remain a being in the middle.

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

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The Midnight Howl by Kate Steele

A very tender paranormal story about gay werewolves. Even if this is not exactly correct. Cause our werewolf, Crewe, is not gay, but he find that is mate was an him and not an her. And the animal instinct can't be deny. So he is very willing to claim his mate... but he is 18 years old and his mate 15 years old... so, maybe, he though that was better to wait some years

Years later, when he is 28 years old, Crewe thinks that is finally the time and, with the approval of his alpha, he goes out on the prowl to claim his mate, Ethan. Crewe is the typical jock, a very hunk man. Ethan instead is a nerd, a librarian... Could the two find a common way? Of course, yes, in bed they are all compatible!

I like this story, Crewe is a classical alpha male, very protective with Ethan; and Ethan is like a pretty baby, all new to the love experience (very very new, he is a total virgin!)... sometimes is good to read a story fresh like water.

A very enjoyble reading, but I think Kate Steele has in mind other stories and maybe a sequel, cause the story between Crewe and Ethan closes with an open point, and we read of other characters, like Chad, Duncan, Nick and Lucas, that maybe will have a story of their own.

Who Let the Wolf Out (Hoosier Werewolf 2) by Kate Steele

A short novel (only 70 pages) that will leave you with the desire to read more.

This the second enstallment in the Hoosier Werewolf series and tells the stories of the three Parks brothers, human, and of their werewolves mates.

In the first enstallment Ethan was mated with Crewe and at the end of the book, the second brother, Duncan, meets a friend of Crewe, Chad.

Duncan is a college student outspoken and friendly. But he has a boyfriend with a secret: he is a drug dealer, and to divert the police from him, leaves drugs in Duncan's apartment. Ducan is arrested and Chad, a lawyer, helps him to go out of jail. But from that moment on, Chad will never let go Duncan no matter how much it costs: Duncan is his mate, and he wants to stake his claim. Chad is so controlled in his everyday life than wild in bed: and Duncan is willing to sate his mate.

At the end of this book, the third brother, Nick, meets his mate, the alpha of the pack, Lucas. Can't wait to read their story.

Things That Go Grr (Hoosier Werewolf 3) by Kate Steele

The third and final enstallment in the Hoosier Werewolf series features Nick Parks, the older of the Parks brothers, meeting his mate, Lucas Deveraux, the alpha male of the pack.

Nick and Lucas are very similar, both are leader of their pack, even if the pack of Nick is his family, his brothers Dustin and Ethan, instead Luc is a real werewolves pack's leader. But both want someone as a mate who can understand the weight to be a leader, and someone who can, during their private moments, be both supportive than comprehensive, but at the same time not submissive. To be on top or at the bottom is not only a question of sex, is also a question of trust: Nick and Luc must learn that.

A very enjoyable fast reading, a good conclusion to a light and funny series.

All three books are now re-released as a collection and you can get three at the price of one ;-)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon Kindle: Dragonmen Book 1: Mate Hunt

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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/Allergies.html

Amazon: Allergies

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All right, first of all, this is a new author and a new publisher for me, so my feelings on this short story have to take it in account: I believe this is quite an "experiment" for the publisher, like for me it was to buy these book. Of the author, I have the idea that she probably comes from a paranormal romance reader and so has pretty clear in mind the romance rule of the Alpha male paired with an apparently weaker mate.

Anthony is a young witch that is mourning his lost lover; after three years his best friend pushes him in the dating pool and the very first night he is spotted by Silver Moon (mmm, don't know if I like very much the name for this hero, it sounds a bit too much gentle to me). Silver is a strong Alpha werewolf who happens to be the owner of a nightclub for paranormal people. He is not searching a mate since he knows that, when his mate will be around, he will smell him. And when he catches the scent of Anthony, there is no doubt for him that he has found his mate. Anthony has casted a spell on himself to dull his looks, he said to not overshadow his friend, who is also searching for a mate, but I believe the real reason is that he didn't want to be at the center of attention. But the spell did nothing for Silver, since he is not interested in how Anthony looks, but only in his wonderful scent.

Anthony at first plays the role of the blushing virgin (even if he is not virgin at all) and then that of a teaser, but for it's only a game, since it's obvious that he likes Silver and he likes also that Silver is a man of power; Anthony is drawn to Silver both for sex but also for his need to be dominated. And he likes to top from the bottom, and Silver is alpha enough to let him play.

There is a lot of "baby, I'm your man and you know it" philosophy in this short story; for sure it's a litght and funny romp, without much aspiration to be more. There are some point that I would like to see developed, as for example Anthony's family and their pursuing of finding the right mate for their son... what will they think of Silver? But this is a short story and a first in a series, so maybe I will discover something more in the following books.

http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?ISBN_num=138

Amazon Kindle: Attracting Anthony

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The StarCrossed series by MacLeod and Valentine is not a simple series to read, since it tests a lot of "romance" boundaries and not only. Above all it questions the main rule that good is white and evil is black and they don't mix, and even if mix, in the end the evil has to go through a purification process to be considered good. Here instead, the evil is evil and remains evil till the end, enjoying its lustful life in plenty.

Jace and Konnor are demon twins who now live in "peace" at Salem, managing a night club. Jace is the same demon that, in Demon Tailz, a previous short story in this series, eat alive a man who was mourning his lost lover... the fact that the man was searching that fate to be reunited with his lover in an alterlife, and that Jace, in a way, helped him, doesn't change the true that the demon enjoyed his "meal". There is then the little fact that this is a twincest story, but well, I believe that this particular kink is now quite surpassed, and almost normal, and then we are talking of demons here, so, well, human laws don't exactly apply to them.

In Objects in the Mirror the reader has the chance to know something more on the past of these two demon brothers and so understand why they are so bound together; but he has also the chance to see that these are not "tamed" demons, they have not conscience: when it's time to hunt, and eat, it doesn't matter if the prey is innocent. Maybe of the two brother, Jace is the more bloody and lethal, but it's not that Konnor is innocent, his unwillingness to hunt is more a question of like or not like than a conscience issue.

Jace and Konnor are the main characters but not the only important in the story; there is also Gennady, their vampire adoptive father, and Fallon, his young werefox lover, and Jericho, almost an adoptive brother. And then a lot of other minor characters, all of them with the same characteristic: they live in a border zone, between right and wrong, between good and evil, and no one of them is perfect. Even the angels in this story have their little dirty secrets.

As I said the two authors test a lot of "no-way" rules of romance: twincest, sex in shifted form, the rule that the good hero, even if behaving as a villain, has to not mingle with the real villain, and if he must, at least he has to not enjoy it. It seems almost that the real good one, the innocent souls in this story are doomed, and only the ones with cracked halo are allowed to survive. And then the authors play also with the main romance rule, the one that says that the good hero has to be beautiful and the villain has to be ugly... in this story instead you can't recognize the evil from the good from the outside exterior, since it seems that all of them are in their way beautiful, the authors manage to make beautiful even the demons in their demon form (with tails, claws and horns).

It's quite a strange book, but just the fact that it doesn't pass and go letting you unaffected is a proof that the main scope it was targeting is reached, it makes wondering and doubting the reader his own belief on what is right and what is wrong.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=227&products_id=1841

Series: StarCrossed
1) Demon Tailz: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/486448.html
2) Opposite Ends of the Spectrum: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/523638.html
3) Objects in the Mirror

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Rose Lenoir

WOLF STRAP by Naomi Clark (F/F): Ayla is a female werewolf in a world where shifters are respectable member of society, but if you are homosexual it's better if you still stay in the closet. And so Ayla left home at 17 years old, finding her way in the big bad world alone, without the safe shelter of a pack. Nine years later, she has a partner, Shannon, and a good life, but an old friend calls her back at home for the funeral of her cousin, a 15 years old boy killed in a bashing against his race. Both for human than shifter standards, Ayla is not a strong woman: she is small and pretty, and she tries to hide it with short hair and piercing. But still she is not a tough woman, and this is reflected in the choice of her partner, a barbie doll type, pretty, blonde and soft. The strength of both Ayla and Shannon don't lie in their bodies, but in their behaviours, and Ayla will prove that, even if it doesn't seem, she is a real bd wolf (if not big). The interest in this short story lies in the contrast between Ayla as a human and her strength as a wolf, always retaining her female side, that makes her cute and pretty, even if she doesn't want it.
 
MOON SING by Laramie Dean (M/M): Drew is a 17 years old boy with a lot of problem: he is gay, he is a werewolf and he has no family. He was welcomed by Doll and her partner Stephanie, and they treat him like a little brother, but Drew is not happy. He doesn't know if his unhappiness is due to the fact that he is a werewolf, and has to hide it, or that he is gay, and has to hide it. In a way or another, Drew is a misfit among his similar, and to add trouble to trouble, he is starting to feel desires that he doesn't understand, an urge to hunt or to have sex, all of them mixed together. And then Drew meets Jason, another boy like him, probably gay like him, but not a werewolf. And Drew knows that he can't live in this way no more, he needs to be free, free to be a wolf and free to be gay. For how strange it could be, Drew is a very normal boy: he is feeling the uneasiness that is typical of an age that is not yet adult but that is no more child, and he is trying to find his way in a world that seems too small for him.
 
WOLF LOVER by Michael Itig (M/M): Nigel is a werewolf's lover, means that he likes to have sex with werewolves while they are in shifted form. And since werewolves don't like to be exposed, he tricked them. Till now he was lucky, nothing bad happened to him, but his last werewolf told him that he is doing a dangerous game, and give him an advice. And so Nigel finds a place where humans and shifters play together in a safe haven and among them he finds Luke, a nice guy that, with the fact that he is also a werewolf he could be the perfect partner for Nigel. But Luke is young, in age and also as werewolf, and Nigel becomes almost a training ship for him; they start a sweet relationship, made of wooing and tenderness, and Nigel starts to think to have find the real deal, if not for the fact that Luke is always shy dealing with his inner wolf, he doesn't like to show it to Nigel. And Nigel doesn't know if for him is enough to have a good man by his side, or if he will miss the wolf. For Nigel arriving to term with his relationship with Luke, is like for a straight man to accept that he is in love with another man; apparently Luke is not the man for Nigel, he is not "wild" enough, but if Nigel manages to move on to his fetish, maybe he will realize that the happiness is near him ready to be taken.
 
SHY HUNTER by Ginn Hale (M/M): David is a werewolf, but he is not the classical strong big bad wolf, he is more like an overgrown puppy; during the day he works in a kennel, and sometime he shifts to become a rescue dog, helping the police to find missing person. David was turned by a rogue werewolf that still haunts the city, and every time David is searching for a missing person, he fears to find out that the evil struck again. The fear is always with David and his work partner is worried for him, and in the end she convinces David to try to date. David is lucky, his first night out he finds Edgar, a shy boy like him. Edgar is perfect, apparently innocent, he is eager in bed and David finds in him the welcoming mate he needs; Edgar's body and home are like a safe haven for David, but more he is with him, more David starts to realize that Edgar is not a normal guy, and above all, he seems to be the target of the rogue werewolf. Even if in this story David plays the role of the hero, he is not at all in the role; David has too much the good boy feeling in him, he is not bad enough. Apart from the shifting thing, and even when he does it, he is still a good "boy", more a pet than a wild wolf, David has no one of the characteristics of a werewolf: he is not driven by lust, he is not bloodthirsty, he is not sex obsessed... really, David is more like a big mutt searching for a warm spot to cuddle, than a lust filled werewolf...
 
THE STRAY by Anel Viz (M/M): John has finally manages to convince his lover Farkas to come to live with him, but even if they now live together, Farkas is still a bit of mystery for John: sometime he disappears for hours without notice only to reappear with a good excuse and a lot of cuddling to make John forget. At the beginning of their relationship maybe John was not happy of it, but lately he found something else to distract him: a stray dog that visits him every time Farkas is out. The dog is friendly and protective, and John feels safe with him; sometime John feels like he is not in the same league of Farkas, his lover is athletic, always active, and instead John sometime likes to stay at home and cuddle on the couch, and the dog allows him to do that while Farkas doesn’t… in a way Farkas and the big dog complete themselves, and they never met! John realizes that something is missing, there is a piece in this story that eludes him, but, or he doesn’t want to understand it, or he really has no idea that such a thing could exist, and Farkas smiles behind his shoulders, and plays along. The story is really light and funny, and the reader smiles along with Farkas of John’s naïveté.
 
NEW BEGINNINGS by Cari Z. (M/M): Michael is the second in command of an all gay werewolves pack. Some weeks before he welcomed Tori, a young runaway shifter in the pack, but after entrusting him in the hands of the Alpha, he didn’t want to have to deal with him. Apparently Tori is the one who needs a new beginning, but also Michael has his own issue, he doesn’t trust too young men for relationship, since he doesn’t believe them serious, and Tori is barely 20 years old. But Tori is not a normal guy, he has seen a lot in his young age and this made him older than he appears; Tori is respectful, quiet and able to follow a good leader, the perfect partner for Michael, if only Michael will see the obvious. But his Alpha is a lot more wise than him (he is an Alpha after all), and forced Michael to take Tori under his wing… it will not take longer for nature to have its course.
 
WHERE THE SLED DOGS RUN by Jerome Stueart (M/M): Drew is a fourth grade teacher and in a way he is innocent like the kids he teaches to. He likes stories, he is romantic and he has faith, and so when he receives and anonymous card asking for an appointment, he is willing to try. Girdard, the man who sent the card, probably chooses Drew for the ability of the man to believe in dream, since what he has to say to the man, only a fool will believe, or a dreamer. The story is very short, even among all these short story, and has quite a fairy tale feeling on it. Probably it’s not even a romance, even if Drew and Girard “dated” (like told us Drew), but they never ever kissed during the tale! Anyway I like the old fashioned feeling of it, and Drew is really cute as elementary teacher. I also like the small town feeling of the place where he lives, a place where he can be an elementary gay teacher, attend a liberal church and fall in love through an anonymous card.
 
PAVLOV’S DOG by Andi Lee (M/M): A really “fast” story, barely a scene, and mostly sex, about Josh and Caleb, two lone wolves that decided to build together a pack, to be their family. Caleb owns a isolated pub near a forest, Caleb is a wandering musician that when enters the Pavlov’s Dog, Josh’s pub, knows that he is finally at home. Now it’s only question to make it official, filling the necessary forms for the Werewolves council to recognize them as a pack and family.
 
WOLVES OF THE WEST by Charlie Cochrane (M/M): Rory and George are a more than 100 years old couple of werewolves, but they are not your usual alpha / beta pair, all rutting around and snarl and sex, they are English and even in shifted form they behave! During the day they work as professors in an science history museum, and they are also member of a council of werewolves; usually their meeting are boring science lessons, but sometime they need to take care of the misbehaviour of one of the pack… more or less every one hundred years, and if you think that this is a long time, remember that Englishmen have very long memory. Tinged with a sharp humour, this is mostly a funny tale; sometime there is a sad undertone, when Rory and George remember all the atrocity they witnessed in their life, but above all is a sweet tale of the life of a long loving couple, that was lucky enough to find each other and that is happy to grow old together. BTW it’s the second time in few day that I read a story set in England, among Englishmen of an more than average class, and there is a not so friendly hint to Australians… being in Australia or having relationship with Australians seem to be the worst case scenario ever!
 
FAMILY MATTERS by Moondancer Drake (F/F): Another really short story, almost a glimpse in a more complicated and long tale that we have no chance to read but from which we have some hint. Tala is a big female werewolf who is in a committed relationship with Mirabella, a lynx shifter. They have two boys, born from Mirabella and a donor, a gay man who is still part of their enlarged family. Tala is obviously the strong side of the couple, while Mirabella is the caretaker, the one who cooks and raises the kids. In this short story both the kids than their surrogate fathers remain on the edge, and all the story turns around a mission Tala and Mirabella have to bring on for the pack, and so there is not even a kiss or a bit of romance between them if not for the protective behaviour of Tala with Mirabella, and the little signs of her affection for her lover.
 
WRONG TURN by Stephen Osborne (M/M): A night Kevin takes the wrong turn and finds himself in an unknown world. The only good thing in all this is that he has the chance to meet Shawn. There is no mystery in what Shawn is, since Kevin discovers from the first night that Shawn is a werewolf and that the pack is not happy for him to mix with a human. So from that moment on, Shawn and Kevin’s relationship progresses like a very normal one, with the two that have the time to know each other, with some sex here and there, and mostly with them dealing with all the little things that have to be overcome to build something together. There is a bridge that divides human world from the werewolves and in this case, the separation is not only physical, but also of mind; to be together, Kevin and Shawn have to find a place in the middle of both their world.
 
LEADER OF THE PACK by Robert Saldarini (M/M): Adolfo is an Austrian who now lives in USA. He is a werewolf and he was turned past in the ’30 of the twenty century in a Vienna occupied by the Nazi Army. Adolfo managed to escape the war with his friend Yeller, but Conan, the sire of both him and Yeller, died. Now Adolfo has a new lover in his bed, Raul, and he is so like Conan, that memories flood his mind… only that Yeller has a surprising information for him, that maybe will change his perspective in the story. Again this is not a romance; Raul is barely making an appearance at the beginning of the story, and he soon disappears to leave space to Adolfo and Yeller’s personal story, that is one of friendship rather than love. The short story could be well be listed as “historical”, since it’s mostly set in Old Vienna, but it’s really short. There is good material here for something more I believe, and the style is dry and neat, but interesting.
 
WAR OF THE WOLVES by Charles Long (M/M): It’s a strange pack those of Hunter, his Alpha female gathers all the gay kids in trouble she can find and offers them a choice: being a werewolf and safe with her pack. It was like that for Hunter two years before, and now Hunter himself was sent by the Alpha to make the same proposal to Jared. In the two years he was with the pack, Hunter has had plenty of lover, but he has not met the One. When he sees Jared, he knows that he is special, but Jared has to take his decision in freedom. In this case being a werewolf is a metaphor of being someone strong enough to survive and win above all the abuses. These kids have no support from the family or friends, and the pack will replace all of them; the pack is like a community, where sex is free and no one judges you for your bed-choices, but only for what you do for the care of the pack itself.
 
FLIP CITY by Lucas Johnson (M/M): Strange things are happening in the city and Ryan fells victim: one night he is bitten by a wolf, and the morning after a young guy, barely eighteen, named Danny, knocks at his door asking Ryan to forgive him since he turned him in a werewolf. If not for the strange urges he is feeling, Ryan will believe Danny crazy, but unfortunately he is not. And Ryan needs him to get used to his new life; but while among them the city is becoming always more strange, Ryan will find out that his crazy life with Danny is not so crazy after all, and that he can control the wolf in him.
 
NIGHT SWIMMING by R.J. Bradshaw (M/M): This is quite a funny tale; while Joseph is swimming naked in the river he meets Todd, another werewolf. Joseph is a city guy, his only “wild” adventure being the swims he takes by night in the river, and instead Todd is a wild wolf, who lives most of the time in wolf form. But they are mates, both of them can “smell” it, and Todd wants for Joseph to come to live with him… imagine it! Joseph that for living grooms dogs, and that is also quite proud of it, asked to become a wolf in the wilderness… Joseph who is still living with his parents and that has always had his life planned and ruled by the pack… But Todd is quite convincing and maybe they can find an agreement…
 
IN THE SEEONEE HILLS by Erica Hildebrand (F/F): Claire was turned into a werewolf by her occasional lover Jules; if it was deep real love with Jules maybe the thing would be not so bad, but Claire is not sure of her feelings for Jules. Meanwhile at the clinic she is frequenting for her “disease” she meets Geneva, a werewolf of another packs, and in Geneva maybe Claire finds the mate she hasn’t found in Jules. On the contrary of Jules, Geneva wants for Claire to take full possession and awareness of her new status as werewolf, and with this new awareness maybe she will finally find also the love that she didn’t know she was searching.
 
A WOLF’S MOON by Quinn Smythwood (M/M): It’s quite a strange tale this one, the reader is plunged in the action without much notice. Sebastian is the alpha lover, but he seems no more content of his life. Hadrian, the Alpha, plays almost a Jesus Christ role, waiting for his favourite disciple to betray him like Judas did. The story has a strong gothic tone, and it seems like it was always played by night or in closed spaces. There is no wild ride by night for these werewolf, no joyous lovemaking, the feeling is one of oppression and repression, and the wolf inside Sebastian is caged.

http://www.queeredfiction.com/queerwolf.htm

Amazon Kindle: Queer Wolf

Amazon: Queer Wolf

Reading List:

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

There is a clear tribute in this series that I almost missed in the previous book, this is very much a Romeo and Juliet's type of story, but not the classical drama play, more the West Side Story Broadway's version: do you remember yes that one of our hero, the thug and werewolf Adair is also a dance warrior? He challenges the other posse in dance fights on a stage, and he is pretty good at it. But as side work he and his crew are also predatories, almost like the eighteen century highwaymen, they hunt the motorbike Pony Express who pass from their territory.

In the previous book Lachlan was one of those biker, and he was not so good to avoid Adair and his men... on the contrary he fell full in their trap and he was almost raped by Adair; what Adair was not expecting was that Lachlan liked very much Adair, and even more his forceful behavior, and like an addicted with drugs, he came over and over begging for more (even if Lachlan will never admit the begging part).

Now Lachlan and Adair are almost a "steady" couple, Lachlan passing by from Adair's warrior zone every full moon during the two days Adair spends alone in the wood due to his little "problem" of his shapeshifting nature. Lachlan is more than willing to be Adair's outlet, even if it means starting to neglect his works and his safety.

Again the story is mostly a never ending sex scene, with Lachlan that, willing or not, entices Adair to let it go every safety as long as he has the chance to be one more time with his biker. There is not much setting to analyze, nor supporting characters worth to be mentioned, the lion share is all of Lachlan, neither Adair can overshadow him. Lachlan is all in all a top from the bottom hero, he knows how to use his weapons with Adair, and he has no need to use anything else than his body, the most powerful of all weapons with Adair. The problem is that Lachlan is also quite reckless, and he doesn't see when he pushes too far; not with Adair, for how much Adair is a big and bad wolf, never once I had the feel that he could hurt Lachlan, but the world outside is not the same as him. I have the feeling that the once to be ruled (as it says the title) is Adair, ruled by Lachlan.

http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?uaid=ISFUDNYA
 
Series: Dance Wars
1) Left Side of the Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/464190.html
2) Ruled by You

Reading List:

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

Kate Steele is specialized in Alpha male werewolves dealing with Omega puppy. In this new book Mick is a special agent of the Werewolf interstate security agency; he is asked to intervene in a very delicate situation, an Alpha male pack leader who has gone over the legal limit: he killed a newly made werewolf, a barely seventeen guy, and now he has another boy in his clutches. Rio was a runaway boy and an hustler; eighteen years old, small and cute he is totally unable to oppose to the big werewolf and there is also another problem: he was turned, but the psycho Alpha male interrupted his first changing, causing him a lot of pain and to fear his new wolf side.

Remove from the story the pervert is not a big deal for Mick, but dealing with the newborn werewolf is not so simple. There are a lot of issue that are against an involvement with Rio: first Mick is way older than the kid, 47 years to 18 years,  and second the kid is passed through a lot of very bad experience, always connected to sexuality, and so Mick is not so sure that it's a good thing for Rio to be mated with an Alpha male werewolf. "Imposing" a sexual relationship to a traumatized boy is the last thing Mick desires. But let the boy go and find a more suitable companion is not an option for the wolf inside Mick.

The story deals mostly with Mick and Rio's relationship, and even if starts with a quite angst prologue (a underage gay hustler), it's not angst at all. True Rio has a bit of problem regarding sex and his sexuality, but he manages them pretty well and they are soon overcome. Also the age issue is not so emphasized, since both Mick than Rio, as werewolves, have another concept of aging: Mick at 47 years old is not a man in his middle age, but it's still a quite young wolf. Actually he is older than Rio's father, who is 39 years old, but this fact is not at all highlighted, and James, Rio's father, in comparison to Mick, has the role of the "old man", save an unpredictable turn of event at the end of the story (I really would like for Kate Steele to write also James' story).

There is a lot of sex, but it's easy and funny, like often is in Kate Steele's works. This is a pretty "classic" werewolf story, with the strong Alpha and the cute Omega, and there aren't switch on the classical path: never once Rio doubts what is his role in the relationship, and never once Mick falters in his firm belief that he need to dominate but also to direct Rio on the right path.

https://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=809

Amazon: Altered Heart

Reading List:

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

Eros Rising by Ally Blue

You know? I have a tender point for this title, cause my father's name was Eros, and I like it very much.

BTW Eros is the art's name of Keegan, a stripper in a private club, Ganymede's Grotto. He is a beautiful man, although not so young (29 years old). He has gorgeous long blond hair and a lithe body. This are the first things Scott sees in him. But he has also a past who haunted him.

Scott is in a dead end relationship with Logan: Logan needs a dom partner, but Scott doesn't like this type of love. He wants a real and simple lovemaking, without "scenes".

With Keegan at first is only friendship: Scott has a partner, and he is not the type to cheat. But... what will happen if is Logan who is cheating around?

A story in Hearts from the Ashes anthology, Eros Rising is the tale of a man who wants love and of another who has to learn how to love again. Even if in a rather short story (100 pages), Ally Blue is the queen of angst: she can draw characters who arrive to us with a luggage of bad experiences and that we see growing stronger during the course of the story.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/eros-rising

Amazon Kindle: Eros Rising

With Love by J.L. Langley

I absolutely love the "funny" werewolves of J.L. Langley. After Without Reservation, now is the turn of With Love: Dev is a strong werewolf who arrives to Asheville for business. Like every good werewolf he wants to meet the local Alpha to give his respect to the leader. But the local alpha is a really piece of shit: when he meets him the alpha is trying to rape Lainey, an omega werewolf. So Dev saves Lainey only to find that he is his mate.

Lainey is a little tiny beautiful man with red hair and amber eyes and with a propension for making trouble. But he is also an eager puppy in bed and Dev likes him very much, so does it matter if he will spend his life saving from troubles his mate?

Here, like in the other books of J.L. Langley, the humor is a main aspect of the novel. She has a way to make you happy and to leave you with a smile in your face and also eager to read more. I can't wait to read the next chapter in this wonderful series.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/with-love

Amazon Kindle: With Love

Series: With or Without
1) Without Reservation
2) With Love

Cafe Noctem by Willa Okati

Apparently Nicholas and Grey are a perfect couple: they manage the Cafe Noctem in Asheville, Nicholas the night shift and Grey the day ones, but when they are both in the apartment above the cafe, it's a comfortable and warm life. Nicholas helped Grey when he was mourning the lost of his lover, Jimmy, a man who was also Nicholas' friend. In a way it was almost natural for Nicholas to take Jimmy's place in Grey's heart. But Nicholas has always wondered if Grey really loves him or, if he could have Jimmy back, he would prefer it.

All of them, Nicholas, Grey and Jimmy have Cherokee origins, but despite Nicholas being the one with most mixed blood, it's him that knows how to evoke all the old legends. And so he summons Sint Holo, the Snake god, the one who can resuscitate the dead...

It's a bittersweet tale this one by Willa Okati, as often is in her style. The reader feels for Nicholas, but honestly you can't hate Jimmy. And Grey is in the middle: if he is faithful to his lost lover, he will make suffer Nicholas, if he decides to start again with Nicholas, Jimmy in a way will be forever lost... it's a not simple situation, and in every way the author chose to end this story, I believe that a romantic like me will never be happy.

Anyway, you can feel the love of Willa Okati for the simple life and the old traditions, it's in all this book.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/cafe-noctem

Amazon Kindle: Cafe Noctem

Amazon: Hearts from the Ashes

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain


Cover Art by Anne Cain


Cover Art by Anne Cain