Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

I asked to all the authors joining the GayRomLit convention in Albuquerque in October (http://gayromlit.com/authors.php) a personal favor, a special Ebook Giveaway: every 2 days I will post 1 book from each author, and among those who will leave a comment, I will draw a winner. Very easy and very fast ;-) I will send a PM to the winner, so remember to not leave anonymous comments!

And the ebook giveaways go to: kc_risenphoenix and tizzzzez, please contact me.

Today author is Barry Brennessel (http://www.barrybrennessel.com/)

First ebook giveaway:

Tinseltown by Barry Brennessel
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (June 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608203565
ISBN-13: 978-1608203567
Amazon: Tinseltown
Amazon Kindle: Tinseltown

Film student Micah Malone learns the hard way that when life sucks, you can't just yell "Cut! Let's do another take!" His grades are a box-office bomb. His friends create more drama than a soap opera. And his love life needs a laughtrack. While there's no script to dictate what happens next, can Micah find the direction he needs? Life, after all, is no film school project. But it /is/ great source material. The /only/ source material. Let the cameras roll. Micah's quirky story has begun filming.

Bonus ebook: Crossroads by Barry Brennessel
Publisher: MLR Press,LLC (November 10, 2011)
Amazon Kindle: Crossroads

Second ebook giveaway:

Reunion by Barry Brennessel
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (May 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160820667X
ISBN-13: 978-1608206674
Amazon: Reunion
Amazon Kindle: Reunion

From a small French city to a park outside the neon glitz of Tokyo, and beyond, these interconnected stories follow the adventures of Brian, Ondrej, Yuji, Jason, and others as they navigate the tumultuous path of life and love. A small French city. A park near Tokyo. The Czech countryside. London at night. Lost loves and found loves. Fear and courage. Reflections. Rejections. Reconciliations. Romance. These interconnected stories follow the adventures of Brian, Ondrej, Yuji, Jason, and others as they navigate the tumultuous path of life and love. Featuring: Shin-Kiba Park (Pushcart Prize nominee; from Gival Press's ArLiJo) Nagasaki (Dana Award finalist; from Polari Journal) Unfinished (from SNReview) Ficelle (from SNReview)

Bonus ebook: Firenze by Barry Brennessel
Publisher: MLR Press,LLC (June 2, 2012)
Amazon Kindle: Firenze

I enjoyed the previous book I read by this author, but it was, well, light, in the meaning that it was an average read. So yes, I didn’t expect nothing different from this one, and I was very pleased to discover that instead this was a very good contemporary novel, an old fashioned office romance, and a story that well develops the relationship between Christo and Damien.

Just out from a 8 years long committed relationship and a bad break-up, Christo doesn’t want to be involved again so soon; Christo is not even the no-strings attached type of guy, and so, well, he thinks celibacy is the best option. But when co-worker Damien offers to be his rebound lover, without commitment and regrets, Christo reluctantly accepts the offer.

Christo has never really liked Damien on a personal level, actually probably their competition on the workfield reflected on the opinion Christo had of Damien as a man, a flirt, someone who is not able to commit, someone who, from his position as second half of a couple, he was only able to condemn and pity. But now Christo is alone, no one of his previous friends, that are also friends of his former partner, are there to help him cope with his newfound “freedom”, and Damien instead is offering help and comfort.

Damien is very different from what Christo was thinking, his incapacity to commit is not due to unwillingness, but to deep emotional scars Damien is bringing along from when he was only a child. They are more similar than what Christo thought, and actually, Christo was probably luckier than Damien, despite all Damien’s money and good looks.

I really loved the slow paced evolution of Damien and Christo’s relationship, how they fell into a long-term commitment without even realizing it, how they are able to face and overcome all the trouble they stumble upon, simply considering their love is more important than everything else. Damien and Christo are destined to a wonderful life together and it was nice to read how they met and fell in love.

Amazon Kindle: What He Wants
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

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

A novella part of an anthology about “heroes”, Only Sam is about an hunky firefighter, Sam, who is able to secure the love of handsome restaurant owner Dylan, playing the role of knight in shining armor.

After one year of dancing around each other, unfortunately Sam has his chance with Dylan when he is called to extinguish the fire that burnt down Dylan’s restaurant. Of course Sam takes home a shocked Dylan, and will bestow upon him love and sex, filling Sam’s mind and body of different memories than the one about the fire.

This is only a novella and so the development is limited, and maybe the ending is a little rushed (I think to stay inside the word count limit). I think it would have been a good novel length story, maybe with the introduction about how Dylan and Sam met, and a longer aftermath.

This is also very high on the sexy scale, making this an Erotic Romance bordering in Erotica. The author is not shy to show her heroes during their intimacy, and both Dylan and Sam plenty enjoy to incite the “safe” flames between them, actually Dylan has also a bit of top from the bottom attitude.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1540

Amazon Kindle: Only Sam
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (February 13, 2012)

Amazon: His Hero
Paperback: 414 pages
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (March 26, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0857157841
ISBN-13: 978-0857157843

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