Saturday Shorts

Two short stories and a novella today.

I Can't Drive 55 by Jade Falconer
After enjoying Cold Hands, Warm... last week I thought I'd read another story by this author and see if I would continue to enjoy her writing.  I did.  This raunchy tale tells the story of Kyle who has decided to go for a fast drive down a lonely highway at 2am.  He's hitting 110mph when he's pulled over by a cop, John.  Kyle knows that if he gets a ticket for speeding then he'll lose his license, so he offers up a blow job as a bribe.  The BJ goes ahead but both men get more than they bargained for when they discover a chemistry between them.  The story wasn't the most original of premises - in fact I've read just such a scenario in another book recently - but it was well executed and both men are likeable and as well rounded as possible for such as short story.  The sex was hot but there was also a hint of tenderness in it and a promise of things to come which I liked a great deal.  Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Sins of the Father by Anna O'Neill
This historical short set in Japan began very well with a breathless chase through the forest.  Two comrades, Sora and Kaname who are Shinobi, or spies for the feudal Lord, are escaping from the nameless enemy, persued by dogs.  They decide to hide themselves by posing as lovers having sex in a pool.  This works and the enemy passes, only Sora is affected by the sexual exchange and starts to develop feelings for the older man.  This was a great start, but unfortunately things went rapidly downhill after that.  The writing was good, the historical detail was interesting, but there was too much crammed into this short story.  This meant that I found it a little confusing as to what was going on.  There were also a few characters who could have been cut from the story altogether.  I like the yaoi aspect of the story but again some of the humour found in yaoi, and included in this story, came across as slightly jarring with the overall serious tone of the book.  A shame really because the story had great promise.  Grade: Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Dangerous Ground 2: Old Poison by Josh Lanyon
I must be the only 'Fanyon' who wasn't that fussed about the prequel to this book: Dangerous Ground.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it, thought it was well written and liked the characters of Will and Taylor, but I wasn't too bothered about reading another book about them and it certainly didn't incite the amount of rapture in me that I've seen from other fans.  I'd rather have a seen a sequel to Cards on the Table to be honest.  Despite this, I picked up this novella and prepared to be entertained, which I was.  Old Poison picks up a few weeks after Dangerous Ground.  Taylor has recovered from the shooting and is about to go back out onto the field.  It's Taylor's birthday and he receives a package which turns out to be a cobra in rice wine.  Other strange things happen too which add up to a set of threats on Taylor's life.  Will and Taylor work together to try and find out who would want to harm him and why, and along the way have to cope with ex-boyfriends, diva wives of African presidents and working out just how committed the two men are to their new relationship.  In some ways this was more Will's story than Taylor's - although they both get plenty of page time, both together and apart.  Taylor has jumped into their relationship with both feet and is putting the pressure on Will to join him.  Will still has quite a few things he needs to sort through in his head before he can fully commit himself to Taylor and I liked how this is explored within the story.  In the previous book, my sympathies were more with Taylor than Will, as he struggled to overcome his injury, but in this book, I felt more sympathy for Will.  Taylor has put him in a difficult position and it was interesting to how he reacts to temptation from others, and to pressure from Taylor as well as his thoughts as he thinks carefully about his future with Taylor.  Great stuff.  The sex scenes were carefully choreographed to show the development in the heroes' feelings for one another and as a result were very moving as well as steamy.  Overall, a great read.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.