Saturday Shorts

Beautiful C*cksucker II: Such a Good Boy by Barbara Sheridan
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
I'd read and reviewed Beautiful C*cksucker at BE reviews and thought I'd then read this sequel. This one didn't work too well for me. It didn't help that the story begins with the reader being told that the hero from the previous book, Ray, is dead. I liked Ray and felt a bit cheesed off that he'd been disposed of. Parts of the book were really well written especially the BDSM and the sex scenes, but the choppy pacing (which I've noticed from this author before) meant that the plotting wasn't smooth mainly because they barely stay in one place for longer than more than a scene. Although I liked the characters well enough, I didn't get much of a handle on their attraction for one another - I was especially concerned about the nearly 30 year age gap which is something that is hardly addressed. Finally, I had lots of concerns about the undercover police work, especially as to why Miki was getting involved in that when he should have had more of a supervisory role. Having said that, I can see that lots of other readers really liked it, so don't be put off just because it didn't work for me. Grade: Poor.

Buy this book HERE.


Brady's Choice by Anne Brooke
This short tells of Brady who is a potter. He's applied for a job as a design consultant and at the interview is horrified to discover that one of the interviewers is a former lover, Philip. They had parted badly five years previously, leaving Brady in a mess. Brady's life is back on track now and Philip's appearance in his life stirs up memories and forces Brady to make a choice about his life that he'd been trying to put off. Although this is only a short it's packed with an emotional intensity and contains a very flawed first person narrator in Brady. My sympathies were with Brady for much of the book but the author was clever in the way that she allowed my sympathies for Philip to shift and change. It's not often in a first person narrative that the other character's POV is portrayed with such dexterity and I was very impressed that Philip came over as just as conflicted and flawed as Brady. The plot is character and emotion based rather than action packed and I was drawn into the story, feeling all of Brady's confusion. There was a 'what the heck are you doing?!' moment during which I thought was going to stop liking the story, but even that was handled with sensitivity. Overall a great read with strong characterisation and fluid writing. Grade: Excellent.

But this book HERE.