Saturday Shorts

Valentine Wish by Eden Winters
After reading The Wish, I picked up this follow-on short from TQ.  The focus of the story is on Anton, the driver and general handyman who works for Paul and Alex.  Anton is a large, buff, taciturn black man who has a secret crush on chef and restaurant owner Thierry, a gregarious and slightly portly, white French man.  When Thierry is threatened by an ex-lover, Anton steps in to help, but Thierry is unaware of Anton's feelings for him.  It takes a birthday party and the intervention of Anton's employers to get both men together.  This opposites attract story was a real delight.  I loved the idea of the huge muscle bound Anton being attracted to the cuddly Thierry and the way that Anton's obvious regard and lust for Thierry helps with Thierry's self-esteem issues.  If I have any complaints it's that I wanted to know a little more about how Anton managed to escape from the violent gangs and end up being such a decent man.  Overall though, a great little short and you don't need to have read The Wish to enjoy it: Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.


GPS by Leigh Ellwood
This is another of the books being sold at ARe during February to raise money for heart disease research.  The story begins with Cale returning home on his birthday to find a parcel on his doorstep.  When he opens the parcel he discovers that it's a GPS system.  Cale has been set up on a blind date and the restaurant is somewhere unfamiliar so he sets up the GPS and lets her direct him to the restaurant.  There's something wrong with the machine though as instead of directing Cale to the restaurant he ends up outside someone's house.  The house belongs to Mike who asks Cale in and prints off directions for him.  Cale has an immediate attraction to Mike, but sets off for his blind date, who turns out to be all wrong for him.  Furtunately, Mike shows up at the restaurant and so after Cale is ditched, he turns to Mike who helps him to celebrate his birthday properly.  I really liked this quirky tale and thought the premise was rather fun.  Cale and Mike were both decent guys and although there's not a great deal of development in the characterisation - mostly due to the story being short - there were a number of humourous touches, especially in the character of Cale's friend, Myra and Ryan, Cale's blind date.  This is definitely worth the money - and you should buy it by tomorrow if you want the profits to go to the good cause.  Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.


From Afar by Ava March
his novella begins with vampire Raphael standing in the boughs of an oak tree spying on a man with a female prostitute. The man is Lord Aleric, third son of a duke, and someone who has captured Raphael’s heart. Raphael secretly follows Aleric wherever he goes, as his unrequited love for the man eases his painful loneliness. After leaving the brothel, Aleric is attacked by footpads and Raphael saves him, and in the process he has a chance of happiness with the one man whose love he has craved for years. There was much to like about this story, especially in the characterisation of Raphael and Aleric and their growing love for each other, which teeters the line a little on the verge of insta-love. What saves it is that Raphael is almost already in love with Aleric and the circumstances which force close intimacy made me a little more willing to accept that the men fall in love quickly. I also like the mix of the historical and paranormal setting. What didn't work as well was the sub-plot based around a vampire clan which left me with too many unanswered questions. Plus the story has 15 pages of bumf at the end of the story turning 80 pages into 65.  In the end the positives outweighed the negatives and I'd recommend this story for those who like historicals. Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.


On a different note, as part of the 28 Days of Heartfelt Romance, ARe has been highlighting a different romance blog each day and today is my turn.  I must say I was really rather chuffed when they asked me to participate - although I strongly suspect Val had something to do with it - especially as my blog is one of only two featured which focuses only on m/m romance (the other being Emmy).  You can read all about me and my blog HERE (you have to scroll down to get to me).