Saturday Shorts

I'm not going to be doing a Saturday Shorts post every week like I used to do, mainly because most of the shorts I read now get reviewed over at Brief Encounters Reviews.  However, this week I've read a couple which aren't going to be reviewed over there, or have been already by another reviewer.

Anyway, enough waffling.  Let's get on with it.

Toy Box: Bondage Mitts anthology
I actually picked this one up on the TQ review list intending to review it at Brief Encounters.  Then I realised it's an anthology, albeit a short one, and our policy is not to review anthologies.  Ah well, I get to do it here instead and I'm sure TQ won't mind.  The anthology is made up of 3 tiny shorts of about 10 pages each and they all contain a scene where bondage mitts are involved.

The first story is A Tangled Web by LD Madison which was a hot little story about a vice cop who gets into trouble with his boss, only to find that his boss has a rather unorthodox way of ensuring that his team obey him completely and without question.  The premise was a little far fetched, but I thought the sex scene was well written and, although I had pretty much guessed the twist at the end, it was still fun to have my suspicions confirmed.  The second story, The is Naughty Puppy Love by GR Richards, was a very humourous story about a guy who takes on a cleaning job for a former colleague and discovers some bondage mitts in the shape of puppy paws in the guy's bedroom.  Despite the fact that I don't really get the whole puppy/master kink this was still my favourite story, due mainly to the light, breezy tone of the writing.  The final story Hands Tied by Sean Michael was set in the Hammer world.  It was a follow on from an established couple, Jim and Marcus, from Bent. Jim is being taken advantage of by a client and Marcus has to step in the calm him down and instill some self-confidence.  I have Bent in my TBR pile and haven't managed to get to it yet.  I think that this one was really a story for the fans of that couple.  It was still a good story, but I wasn't as engaged with the couple as I may have been had I read their previous book.

Overall, this was a decent anthology, although there were a number of irritating typos that kept pulling me out of the story.  I'm often not too bothered when I come across the odd typo (I know it drives some people nutty) but there were more than the average number of errors in this anthology, which is a great shame.  As for the theme of the mitts, well I thought each story incorporated them in an interesting way into the story and I'm giving this anthology a grade of 'Good'.

Buy this book HERE.


One Night Stand by Cassandra Gold
Tam reviewed this one at BER and I liked the sound of it so much I thought I'd read it too.  It tells of Tom who is starting back into the dating scene two years after his lover died.  Whilst at a bar he meets Ian who, after a disastrous relationship which broke his heart, has decided to protect his poor heart through a series of meaningless one night stands.  The two men have sex after which Ian panics and leaves Tom feeling a little downhearted but determined to keep on the dating scene.  After that point the two men run into each other which leads to general embarrassment, but also hope that Ian can perhaps be brave enough to open his heart once again.  I really liked this story which had a great cast of secondary characters and a pair of 'nice guy' heroes.  The initial premise was unusual and even Ian's 'slut because of broken heart' routine was handled well because it didn't take too long to realise what an idiot he was being.  The whole story gave me a warm feeling and it was nice to read something where the focus was on good characterisation.  Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Enjoy your weekend, folks!