Well Read

Review: Boats in the Night by Josephine Myles

2012-01-27T10:54:00.002Z

After reading a couple of quite intense books I was in the mood for something fairly light. This book fit the bit for that exactly. It tells of Giles, who has recently had a bit of a minor breakdown after breaking with his lover, and is struggling with approaching alcoholism. He's very wealthy and lives in a huge house near Bath with a canal at the bottom of his garden. Smutty is a free spirit who has recently purchased a narrow boat. He's only had the boat a couple of days when the engine breaks down at the bottom of Giles' garden. They're a mix-matched pair, but Giles is almost instantly drawn to Smutty.

There was lots to like about this story, but the main thing which kept me reading was in the two opposite attract characters of Giles and Smutty. Giles is white, rich, upper-class, a little stuffy and conservative. Smutty is mixed race, was raised in a commune, has dreadlocks and no fixed abode. He makes his money as a street entertainer. Despite their differences they work as a couple. Smutty longs for a place to call home and Giles' garden calls to him as somewhere he can exercise his love of self-sufficiency. Giles has been constrained for far too long by a now ex-lover whose love of propriety over-rode his love for Giles. In Smutty's presence Giles learns that there's more to life than wealth, finding himself able to breathe again and feel freer than he perhaps ever has. I read with delight their unfolding relationship as each learns to see life from the other's point of view. It was the early, awkward scenes between them that really caught my interest. Giles' blinkered viewpoint means that he often stumbles into saying the wrong thing, and only Smutty's laid back personality managed to get them through that initial almost offensive conversation.

The story is also about healing. Giles needs healing from his minor breakdown, and his encroaching OCD and alcoholism. Smutty needs healing from past hurts. They find this healing initially in each other's arms through the use of a number of well written sex scenes, and then later through discussion and conversation. The romance does move quickly but not so fast that I felt it unrealistic.

Any niggles I had about the story stemmed from the surprise reveal at the end. Whilst I understood the need for Smutty to have some closure on his past, in my mind it wasn't necessary and I was a little skeptical about the way that part was handled in the story, especially in the way that it linked with Giles. I don't want to say too much here because that would be spoilerish, but that part made me raise my eyebrows a little and marred what had been a pleasant and realistic situation.

Overall, though, despite my feelings about the end, I enjoyed this story. Although it has some serious themes, the writing had a light touch to it which made the story move swiftly and meant that the ansgt level wasn't high. I liked both main characters and was invested in their story and their romance which left me with a big smile on my face. If you're looking for a lovely character based romance then I would recommend Boats in the Night with a grade of 'Very Good'.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: The Island by Lisa Henry

2012-01-25T18:10:00.000Z

Shaw's ambition is to get the the inner circle of crime lord, Vornis and he's found the perfect way to do it. He's sourced a stolen painting and has been brought to an idyllic Fijian island to sell the painting to Vornis. When he arrives he discovers that Vornis has acquired a 'pet' in the form of a young man, Lee, who Vornis regularly beats and sexually tortures. Vornis gives Lee to Shaw as a gift whilst he remains on the island leading to a quandary for Shaw: He's no rapist but to refuse the gift will put his relationship with Vornis in jeopardy and Shaw has worked for six years to get where he is now. No sexual slave is going to stand in front of his ambitions, but it's not long before Lee's plight is tempting Shaw to take risks he should never take.

Let's start with a warning here: This book is not really for those who may have difficulty with stories containing abuse. Although many of the sexual abuse and torture scenes in this book are glossed over or happen off page, we do see the physical and emotional aftermath of Vornis' actions. Also, whilst Shaw doesn't take part in any of those scenes, he is complicit in what is happening to Lee. There is a good reason for this, one I can't say because it's a major spoiler, but for a lot of the book Shaw stands back whilst Vornis does what he likes to Lee. These were not easy scenes to read but necessary for us to gain a good understanding of what Lee goes through at the hands of Vornis. Having said that, I never felt that those scenes were used for cheap thrills or were sensationalist in any way. Instead they were harrowing, and added greatly to the dramatic impact of the story. The first two thirds of the story deal with Shaw and Lee on the island, but I was particularly pleased that the last third was focused on the aftermath of Lee's incarceration and his subsequent recovery. It made the romance part plausible.

Another part which I liked about the story was the realistic way we are shown how torn Shaw is over his part in what's happening to Lee. Shaw treads a very fine line with Vornis and the slightest mistake could lead to a loss of trust with the man. Loss of trust would lead to Shaw's death at best, at worst he could suffer Lee's fate. This means that Shaw has to be seen to be as amoral and sadistic as Vornis, even when it's tearing him up inside. It was this constant internal debate as Shaw found a balance between trying to help Lee as much as possible, whilst also appearing abusive towards him that made Shaw a sympathetic character. At times his guilt almost overwhelms him, especially when he realises that he might be crossing that line too far.

Despite the scenes of torture, this story is actually lacking in physical action scenes because the focus is more on tense dramatic scenes where the characters have to weigh every word which is spoken - although there were some action scenes, especially during the end, which packed an exciting punch. Much of the time the story shows the developing feelings that Shaw and Lee have and their uncomfortable relationship. The time frame for most of the story is a week, during which Shaw is on an emotional high alert and this shows in the intensity of the writing. I felt every minute of that time and as a piece of character driven drama this was almost flawless. I was grabbed from the start and could hardly put the book down. The reality of the way Lee is treated is not hidden from the reader and this meant that it wasn't always easy to read but it also doesn't downplay Lee's experience. I was very pleased to see that the romance wasn't in the book to 'heal' Lee. Sex was not a cure for abuse. Instead the book showed Lee's gradual recovery in a way which I found quite heartbreaking at times.

As you may image this is not a light and fluffy books. However, I didn't feel weighed down by excessive angst. The balance felt right between the heavier scenes and the scenes where Shaw is doing his best to make things better for Lee. I wasn't overwhelmed emotionally and read quickly through the book to find out the outcome. Those readers who are looking for a tightly written, tense drama, and who are able to read scenes of abuse, will find this book very much to their taste. I highly recommend The Island, with a grade of 'Excellent', and I'm now going to check out other books by this new-to-me author.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Second Chances by Jeff Erno

2012-01-24T14:47:00.000Z

This contemporary story with a science fiction twist raises some interesting ideas, mainly what would you do with your life if you had the chance to start over again? The main character here is a selfish, vain, ambitious rich man, Harold. He's spent his entire life accumulating wealth by exploiting others. Now in his seventies and dying of cancer, Harold is alone and full of regret, especially about throwing away the opportunity he had for love with artist Jacob. He's approached by scientist Dr Tim Drayton who offers Harold the chance of having his life over again in the body of Jesse, who after being in a road accident is now brain dead. Harold can have his consciousness transferred into Jesse's 18 year old body if he donates a large sum of money to Dr Tim's research. Harold jumps at the chance and in doing so vows to live his life in a way that benefits other people.

Whilst I liked the idea for the story, I wasn't sure at first whether it would work for me because I really didn't like Harold. Part of me felt that he didn't deserve another chance in life and that dying a lonely unmourned death was how things should end for him. However, I found that as the story progressed I warmed to Harold/Jesse. He really does make an effort to change, to set aside his former selfishness, and this meant that by the end of the book I was rooting for him. I particularly liked the way that Harold had a little difficulty merging his personality with Jesse's in order to fit in with Jesse's life. This sometimes made me smile - such as trying to explain away why Jesse was suddenly a vegetarian, or had a vocabulary which exceeded the one he used prior to his accident - and sometimes it was bittersweet - such as finding out things about Jesse's former life and knowing that the boy who had those thoughts and aspirations was now dead. I also liked that, even despite a lifetime of experience, Harold made errors of judgement. He could have come across as a bit of a know-it-all but that wasn't the case and so, for me, what had initially been a rather a turn off ended being the strongest part of the story.

Another strength was in the character of Phillip who was just so delightful. I sympathised with him and his situation a great deal. The love between the young men was there before Jesse's accident and so it's not surprising that things move quickly. Harold/Jesse can't help but fall head over heels for such a lovely, caring and earnest man, especially given that for many years he had no-one to love him, so it seemed realistic that he would grab onto Phillip's love for all that he could. The sex scenes between them were tender and loving. I did find though that as the story progressed their relationship veered into 'too sweet' territory, so that on occasion I had to stop reading because I felt a bit overwhelmed by sugar. However, that's not an uncommon thing for this author, and there will be many readers who will like those heartfelt sweet scenes more than I did.

*spoilers for this next paragraph so skip if you are bothered by that*

The part of the book which didn't work so well for me was in the secondary plot involving Tim and Jacob. Generally the science fiction part of the story does require you to set aside some realism because there isn't a way that consciousness could be transferred onto a micro-chip (I suppose it wouldn't be science fiction if that were the case!), but the whole aspect involving Tim's research stretched my incredulity towards the end. I was prepared to accept the initial set up for the sake of the plot, but the final scenes set in the research facility didn't make sense to me, in particular who could have initiated the transfer into Phillip's body given that there was no-one left to perform the operation. Or maybe I just missed something important there!

*end of spoilers*

I also found that the book had a very slow start. There are four main characters in the story (five if you include the original Jesse) and the first fifty or so pages is spent setting the scene for the events of the book. I would encourage readers to stick with it though because the story does pick up after the main meat of the story begins.

So overall, I had mixed feelings about the story. I liked the change in Harold/Jesse, and the way his relationship develops with Phillip but the romance was too sweet for me in places. I liked the general idea of the book and questions it raises about science and ethics, but found the scenes involving Dr Tim a little over the top and confusing towards the end. I'm giving Second Chances a grade of 'Good' and I would recommend it to readers who are looking for an unusual story with two lovely leads and who don't mind a sweet romance.

Buy this book HERE.

A Naked Man in Socks

2012-01-22T15:12:00.001Z

Is it just me, or do there seem to be an unusually high number of sex scenes in m/m where the men leave their socks on?

Why?

Is it because some people have a bit of a feet phobia, and so leaving the socks on means they don't have to look at the other guy's hairy toes?

Is it because somehow it's deemed sexy to wear your socks during sex?

Personally, I'm with Jeff from Coupling on this one. Leaving the socks on is not sexy at all. Miss the 'sock gap' and you're just a Naked Man in Socks.

Vamp Week at BER

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000Z

There's definitely no sparkling from Wild Bill either, just a whole load of grunginess and filthy sex. Yum.

All this week at Brief Encounters Reviews we've been celebrating the re-release of Jordan Castillo Price's Channelling Morpheus series by hosting a vamp week. There's a two part interview with JCP, plus reviews of all five CM books and some other vampire short stories. There's also a chance to win copies of the CM books.

It's almost over, so don't miss the chance to join in the fun.

The Dreaded Three Stars

2012-01-19T14:11:00.000Z

My mate Kris is doing a series at the moment about book gradings which has been making me think a little both about how people grade in general and also how I grade. Mostly though it's made me think about the three star grade and different people's perceptions of that. Here's a couple of perceptions in a nutshell:

Readers: Three stars isn't bad
Authors: Three stars for one of my books is bad

There's also the idea that if you are a reviewer then your average rating should be three stars. If you are under three stars, then you are a harsh reviewer; if you're over three stars then you're too lenient. At the end of the year several reviewers proudly displayed their stats telling their readers that they were an average three star reviewer. Firm but fair. Apparently.

My average rating for reviews is 4.04 stars, so think what you like about that.

What I think about it is that, on the whole, I read books I think am going to like. Sometimes I'm disappointed, but most times I get what I'm hoping for. If I really like a book I give it four stars, so it stands to reason that many of my books will have four star ratings. I still get this vague feeling of guilt though when I'm giving out lots of four stars, sort of like I'm letting the reviewing side down by liking the books.

Back to the topic at hand which is the thee star rating, or 'Good' if you look at the way I rate at this blog. Different people have different ideas about what constitutes a three star rating. Good Reads criteria is 'I liked it', which if you think about it is actually a decent description for a book. I think many authors should be pleased to know that their book was liked. My 'Good' rating is slightly different to that and follows two separate ideas:

1. That the book may be a little bland
I read so many m/m books that there are some that fade into almost obscurity within a day of me finishing the book. That doesn't mean to say that I didn't enjoy the book whilst reading. I probably did and found it very diverting or entertaining at the time. 'Good' books are those whose plot I can't remember or character names are forgotten, all within a relatively short time frame. I once had a book that I needed to review. I read it before realising that the ARC had been given out weeks in advance so I held off reviewing until nearer the publication date. When I came to write the review I couldn't remember anything about it. Not one thing. I ended up re-reading the entire book before I could review which wasn't a huge chore because the story was fairly entertaining. That is the perfect example of a grade three/Good book in my view.

2. That the book may have features or weaknesses which annoy me
These sort of books fall into two areas:

a) Annoying characters or plot devises like the Big Misunderstanding
b) Several annoying typos or errors or a written style that just does not appeal to me

Both areas will often lead to me being pulled out of the story on several occasions either to puzzle over a continuity error or to shout at a character/situation which irritates me. It interrupts the flow of the reading, pings my 'not like' button, or leaves me feeling frustrated, but not enough that I want to stop reading. There are some authors who will always get a 'Good' grade from me because I don't connect well with the way they write. That isn't the fault of the author, just that we're not compatible and I soon learn not to read books by that author any more. Then again I may have an author who I love to read, but something about one of their books really gets on my nerves - maybe the actions of a character, or something in the plotting. I won't give up on an author for that, but it will mean I might rate them lower than I have previously.

As a reader, I don't think that a three star/Good review is a bad thing. I've bought books on the strength of a three star review, and I've had readers tell me they have bought books based on one of my 'Good' reviews. After all, what hasn't worked for me may work for another reader. The important thing, I think is that there IS a review, even one line, to say why the grade is given because that allows readers to make an informed choice.

So, my fellow readers, what is your opinion on the three star/Good review? If you see three stars does it put you off buying a book? Do you think three stars is a 'bad' review? What are your criteria for giving out three stars? Do tell.

Review: Choices by Penny Brandon

2012-01-18T13:48:00.000Z

Marc is bewildered when he finds himself in Simon's antique shop. He's been drawn there for some reason but isn't sure what. Simon knows though and shows Marc a magic mirror which gives him the image of his true love. Marc is shocked to discover that the image is of a man, especially as he is straight and never felt any attraction to men before. After some debate, Marc is determined to find this mystery man and see whether the mirror is right or not.

Choices is labelled a paranormal romance but really the only paranormal aspect is that of the mirror and that is over with in the first chapter. The story follows a 'gay for you' plot with Marc at first coming to terms with the fact that his true love is gay and then pursuing Liam. This is not the first book I've read with this theme of a man being told your true love is another man, but I liked the idea enough that I thought another book with a similar theme would be a fun read. Once the mirror scene is out of the way the story retains a fully contemporary story, except that Marc has to convince Liam that he's not crazy and that they are destined for each other. There were two themes in the story one of which worked pretty OK for me and the other which didn't so much.

The first theme involves Marc's change of personal viewpoint towards his sexuality. This could have been a well constructed and slightly angsty re-evaluation by Marc. Instead though, sex is used as a shortcut to feelings and even though Marc has never had any sexual feelings towards men in the past as soon as he sees Liam his body lights up like a Christmas tree. Then once he and Liam become intimate Marc decides that, at least for Liam, he's happy being gay. It was a little sudden for me which is a shame because the scene in the nightclub where Marc and Liam first meet was well written with a nice balance of awkwardness and earnest discussion from Marc. Those readers who don't like angst will like this part of the story because despite what could have been heavier themes the writer handles it with a light touch which renders the story rather sweet in places.

Once Marc is happy with being with Liam and the change in his sexuality, the focus of the story shifts to Liam who, due to problems in his past, has forsworn love forever. This was the part that didn't work for me because I thought the reason why Liam was never going to fall in love was rather ridiculous. I don't want to give away spoilers here but, really it was a very poor excuse, and I was glad that Liam's friend in the story also thought it was lame. Far too much time is spent with Liam pushing Marc away out of fear and I was glad when Liam's friend gave him a good talking to about it, making Liam see sense.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I found Liam's excuse for not committing a little annoying was because the author had done a good job in showing how well the men work as a couple. Lots of that is done through sex, but there are also a number of scenes where the men are getting to know each other where their chemistry was strong. Despite the relatively short time-frame to the story, I felt that the ultimate destiny shown by the mirror was also reflected in their interactions and so the romance worked for me.

Overall, those looking for a sweetly written gay for you romance with an engaging lead in Marc and a solid romance can't go wrong with this story. If I hadn't been slightly disappointed at the use of sexual arousal to force the change in perception for Marc, and in Liam's reasons for not wanting to commit, I may have rated this higher. As it is, it gets a grade of 'Good' from me. There looks to be the possibility of a follow on story to this involving the shopkeeper Simon and I'm interested enough to want to read that if/when it's released.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Crescendo: Song of the Fallen Book 2 by Rachel Haimowitz

2012-01-17T14:30:00.002Z

I really loved the first book in this duology: Counterpoint (reviewed here) and have been looking forward to reading this second book. Both books have to be taken together to complete the story and the first book left on rather a cliff hanger. It's been frustrating to say the least that I've had to wait for this book to be written and then, once it was out, had to wait through some other reviewing commitments before I had to get to it!

The story follows on directly from book 1. Freyrik, prince of Farr has been summoned to the High Court, to account for himself before the Aegis, ruler over all the kingdoms. He brings with him his Elven lover Ayden, who is one of the things Freyrik has to explain. Freyrik assures Ayden that he will be safe with him at the High Court, but almost from the start things do not go well for the elf. When political betrayals and machinations affect both men, they are sent to discover the source of the power within darker lands.

Like with book one, my sympathy in this book remained mostly with Freyrik. It was interesting to see the contrast between the Prince Regent at Farr in book one, to Freyrik at the High Court where he wields little or no power. For the first two thirds of the book Freyrik is involved with trying to please both his brother - who has plans for Freyrik and a scheme to rid the lands of the Darkers forever - and the Aegis - whose motivations I was never quiet sure about until the end of the book. These scenes were tense with unspoken emotions and with Freyrik's utter frustration with his lack of authority and power. He is just as helpless here as Ayden is as an elf slave and under just as much, if not more, scrutiny.

In contrast I found myself getting more and more annoyed at Ayden's inability to see the bigger picture. You would think that for an elf aged many hundreds of years that he would have learned to take the long view of things, but no his impetuous nature, pride and inability to cope with boredom means that he's constantly getting into trouble, drawing attention to himself and getting punished in various painful ways. By the time the section set at the High Court ended, I was totally exasperated with him. I did feel very sorry for him on occasion especially when his magic is bound. That scene where Ayden realises that he has to cope without his 'song' was very affecting indeed. The bad feelings towards the elves is brought more into focus in this part of the book too and the scenes where Ayden is abused for being nothing but an elf were well written and sympathetic.

Because Freyrik and Ayden are already in love by this second book, the emotional drive in the narrative was not so much the growth of feelings for each other, but how their love sustains them through difficult times. I thought this was effectively shown through the way that the two characters think and act towards each other. They need to be strong as a couple in order to face some of the things that happen and to provide a solid support.

The last third of the book takes our heroes out of the oppressive High Court and on a quest. This was where Ayden's character improved for me. His quiet (or not so quiet at times) support of Freyrik, the way that he does all that he can to help in a journey he thinks is fruitless reminded me of why he excels as a warrior. He was in his element here and by the end of the book I had warmed to him once more. The last part of the book moves quickly, covering much time in fewer pages than before and as such the pacing is swift, drawing to a breathless conclusion. Not everything is tied up in a neat bow at the end - for example, I would have liked to know how Berendil fared, but the conclusion is satisfying. I was left feeling happy for the characters and hopeful for a new future for men and elves.

Overall, this was a pretty terrific book. I liked the characters and in particular how the author had perfectly captured the frustrations of both characters for their situation - even if Ayden was annoying at times. I especially liked the clever way that some of the ideas and concepts given to us in the first book are slowly turned on their heads. The last 50 pages were a surprise to me and that is always a good thing. If you're looking for a complex, character based fantasy book then I would recommend both of these books in the Song of the Fallen duology with a grade of 'Excellent'.

Buy this book HERE.

A-Z Challenge Review: Visible Friend by KZ Snow

2012-01-13T12:19:00.000Z

Why I bought the book: It's a KZ Snow book. How can I NOT buy it?!

Plot: Chris has just finished some time in rehab for a heroin addiction. On his last night in the centre he finds a strange man in his room, Denny, who seems to know Chris but vanishes mysteriously when Chris calls for help. Putting it down to emotional nerves, Chris tries to move on with his life. It's not easy for him to face up to the reality of a lonely existence when even contacting old friends runs the risk of him sliding back into his addiction. The reappearance of Denny brings both comfort and confusion to Chris as he tries to come to terms with who Denny is.

Whilst I found the plot to be arresting, meaning that I read this novella nearly in one sitting, the time-line jumps around a bit with a basic linear pattern which then moves back in time occasionally to flashbacks of when Chris and Denny were close. The flashbacks didn't work so well for me, as I found that they jarred a little with the smoother present day plot, and I was glad they they were relatively short. Just occasionally the characters would remember flashes of conversation and this worked better for me as it was more integrated into the linear storyline.

Characters: The story is divided up between the characters of Chris, who has a third person narrative, and Denny, who has a first person narrative. This is something that has been done before by this author and I found it was an interesting and successful way of showing character. I think as a reader we need to see Denny's thoughts in able to understand who he is and what happens to him when he's not with Chris - although I have to admit, I found the explanation of that little vague and unsatisfying. What did work though was Denny's utter loyalty to Chris and his unconditional love for him. I thought the way that this came across strongly in Denny's thoughts, through his genuine care and concern for Chris, was effectively shown.

It's a brave move on the part of the author to have a main character who is an ex-heroin addict, especially as Chris makes no excuses for his past addiction. It just was, it happened and now he's clean and looking to move on. I really liked this attitude in Chris, just as I liked that we really get to know why he loved the drug so much as well as seeing all the negatives about the addiction. The story wasn't preachy and nor did it condemn. In fact it gave a very balanced portrayal of drug taking. This made me like Chris a great deal, especially in the way that he has to cope every day with the reactions of others to the marks on his arms and his history. More than that though I'm a sucker for a guy with nothing to lose but who has an inner strength to keep going. I found this in Chris. His loneliness is intense, and he's tempted to return to the comfort of heroin, but he stays strong and focused. I found that I was cheering him on in the book, wanting him to succeed and achieve the happiness he deserves.

Overall: I really enjoyed reading this novella, but I was left feeling vaguely cheated out of a plausible ending. All of a sudden Denny is just available to Chris - like magic - and it was just too convenient. I'm not sure how the ending could have been any different and still had a HEA, and I was happy that Chris and Denny could be together as a normal couple, but it was a bit of a niggle at the end for me as a reader.

Having said that, this was still a great read with a very unusual theme - both the recovery from a heroin addiction and the nature of Denny and Chris' relationship. As with all KZ Snow books the writing is excellent with a strong sense of character and emotion. If you're looking for a story with a rewarding romance but which isn't afraid to face up the reality of life, then this would be the books for you. Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: At His Throat, A Promise by Lilith Grey

2012-01-11T15:04:00.000Z

Those of you who follow my reviews here and elsewhere will know that I have a fondness for master/slave romance books. I love the dynamic, especially when we can really get inside the head of the slave to see what drives him to fall in love with his master. At first the length of this book was a little daunting (it shows up as about 571 pages on my book reader), but I was quickly drawn into the story, and in particular the character of Ellis. So much so that the pages flew by and I finished it in a couple of days.

The story is set in the fictional city of Spire where there is a system of slavery. Children who show intellectual promise are bound as slaves between the ages of 16-20 and taken on by a Master/Mistress who in return for complete obedience and sexual favours will train a slave/s in their job - in the case of this book William is a prosecuting lawyer. After 20, the slave is free to be employed in that career and as they mature they can have their own slave to train. It's a system that works on the whole, except for those occasions where the master is abusive or when the slave is unable to conform to the submission. As the book begins we meet Ellis who is 17. His master has recently died and failed to provide any security for Ellis. He's in danger of being sent to the Facility where unclaimed slaves are held, so he attends an exclusive club in the hope that a master will claim him. It's there he meets another slave, Harte, who convinces his master to 'sponsor' Ellis until another master can be found for him. The three work well together and Ellis would like nothing more than to stay with William and Harte. However, he also longs for a master of his own.

What I've described above barely touches the surface of this complex novel. Ellis is an absolutely fascinating character. He's a submissive who likes being dominated, but he's also got a dominant streak. He's a perfectionist whose previous training makes him want to be the perfect sub - something which eventually causes Ellis a lot of problems. He sees the forbidden love between Harte and William (forbidden because Masters and slaves are not supposed to form emotional connections) and wants what they have, but can't allow himself to open up to them. Ellis is our narrator and I liked him almost from the start. That didn't mean he wasn't frustrating at times, because he definitely was, but he had my sympathy throughout. Ellis was the reason I could barely put this book down.

I also thought the three way relationship Ellis has with Harte and William worked very well. You could tell that they were perfect for each other - balanced in their relationship - and I read eagerly on to find that point when all three could be together. The story is made up of a lot of sex scenes between these characters and with others. Usually this isn't something I like, but each sex scene was constructed in a way that it showed us something about the characters, their relationship and how their roles are defined within the household and so I never got bored of the sex, finding it informative as well as very hot.

Although the main thrust of the story involves the romance between Ellis, Harte and William, there is a strong sub-plot involving the abuse of slaves. There are several secondary characters who are used to show how the system is skewered in favour of the masters and how helpless slaves really are when they are chosen by the wrong person. Ellis and Harte too are victims of poor judgments in the system and the way that this affects Ellis is a poignant part of the book. I liked that the author hadn't shown the slavery system to be all fun and games and this serious side to the book added some bite to the story. It also meant that there are scenes showing physical and sexual abuse which some readers may find upsetting. The warning on the publisher's page is not to be taken lightly.

There were a couple of things that bothered me a little. Firstly, whilst I could get behind a system where 16 year olds are taken into sexual slavery, the suggestion (and actualisation later) that some slaves are taken on as young as 14 or younger left a sour taste in my mouth. We meet one character who is a few weeks shy of his 14th birthday and even though I'm fairly broad minded that was too young for me. I would also have liked to have known a little more about this fantasy world created by the author. It's almost like an Alternative Universe, with lots similar to our world, but the fact that the story is so tightly focused on the three main characters meant that the book was missing out on some of the world building. We are still fed information about the society - and in particular how the slavery side of things work - but I would have liked more.

The complexity of this story and the range of emotional content means that I feel like I've not managed to do it justice in this review. It contains a strong romance in the setting of a master/slave relationship, yes, but it also effectively reveals the thoughts of a sometimes confused Ellis who craves and needs physical and emotional comfort. Despite the niggles I had, I really enjoyed this book and I'm likely to read it again in the future. For those who like master/slave books and don't mind non-con and dub-con sex, then this is a book I can highly recommend. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Love Means...Family

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000Z

Love Means... Family is the seventh book in the Love Means series, and whilst I've enjoyed all the books so far, this one is starting the stretch the series a bit. All the books have similar themes, which I suppose is one reason why people keep reading. They all focus on family and finding a place in the world where a gay man can be accepted and loved. This book contains that theme too, although to a lesser extent than some, possibly to its detriment.

The book focuses on Arie, the best friend of Robbie from Love Means...No Boundries. He's recently lost his sister and her family to a freak accident which has left his family in shock and grief. In order to escape his mother's alcoholism and his father's demands that he needs to marry and produce an heir, Arie decides to visit Robbie at Geoff and Eli's farm. Whilst there he meets 'Officer Hunky' also known as Duane. They quickly form an attachment but Arie has duties to his family in Mississippi and knows his relationship with Duane is only temporary.

Those who have liked the plots of the other stories in the series will like this one too. There's a good mix of some emotional content and a sweet, if rather sudden, romance that develops between Duane and Arie. The time frame for the romance was a little short for me, especially when Duane is wanting Arie to give up his life in Mississippi on the strength of a relationship which has lasted less than three weeks. Actually this led to a bit of a niggle for me. There was lots of talk towards the end of the story about Arie moving to Michigan, making the sacrifice of his family and possibly his career for Duane, but at no point was the point raised that Duane could have moved to Mississippi more easily. He could have been a traffic cop anywhere and he had no family to leave behind.

The characters themselves were nice guys with nice personalities. Here lies my main problem with the story. They were so nice that I found both men rather dull. There was nothing to set them apart from each other. Even Arie's violin playing, which could have been something which defined him more as a character is underplayed. However, I thought the grief he feels over his sister was realistic, and allowed for some good 'healing scenes'. Duane has a boring job as a mostly traffic cop and a personality which leans towards protectiveness, but that didn't stop him from being a little bland. It wasn't that I disliked the characters, far from it, I just didn't find them engaging and if I have to be honest, I struggled to keep reading because I just wasn't interested in them as characters.

One part I did like though was that we get to see a little more of Eli and Geoff. Their nine month old son, Jakey, fairly steals the book from under the noses of Duane and Ari. I was pleased to see that we get both the good things and bad things about raising a young child, and if Jakey was a little too placid and well behaved for a small child, I could forgive that. After all, he had a whole housefull of doting adults in which to entertain him!

The sub-plot involving a series of shootings was another part which worked for me. I pretty much guessed what was going on fairly quickly but the parts of the book which showed Duane aiding in the investigation of the shootings were some of the better written parts, especially when he and other officers are searching an old crumbling house.

Overall, for me this was one of the less interesting books in the Love Means... series. It wasn't bad, but not as enjoyable as some of the others and as such gets a grade of 'Good'. Fans, like me, will still want to read it but if you've not really read any of the other books then you'll probably think you're missing something if you take this as a standalone.

Where am I?

2012-01-04T14:31:00.003Z

This is a bit of a clue to my favourite romance film

Today I'm guesting over at Clare London's LJ for her birthday blogging month. I'm taking about my favourite romance films. Do join me HERE and tell me which are your favourite romance films - if you have any.

It's all rather too much

2012-01-03T16:04:00.001Z

Is anyone else feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment, or is it just me? I've been busy pretty much all day and decided to take a break and read a few blogs. Here's what happened:

1. Read review of Nineteen by AJ Mars on Book Utopia's blog and thought 'ooh that looks good, I'll have to read that' before remembering my huge TBR pile.

2. Read review of the new ZA Maxfield book at Wave's and thought 'ooh that looks good I'll have to read that' and remembered the pesky TBR pile again.

3. Remembered that the book I'm reviewing for Wave next week is quite long at nearly 400 pages, so I ought to start reading it now. ETA: I was mistaken, the book I'm reviewing for Wave next week is 571 pages so I DEFINITELY need to start reading it now - EEK!

4. Read Josephine Myles blog and remembered that I still have to read and review Boats in the Night.

5. Read Charlie Cochrane's blog where she talks about the recent print release of her 8th Cambridge Fellows book. Remembered how much I loved the first book in that series and that I'd intended buying and reading the rest of the series.

6. Noticed that Pants Off Reviews had reviewed Second Chances by Jeff Erno which is another book on my review list.

7. Noticed that Jay had an interview with LA Witt and remembered that I really wanted to read the sequel to The Distance Between Us, but hadn't had time to buy or read it yet.

8. Started feeling guilty that I hadn't been able to read anything all week except a couple of short stories.

9. Started feeling even more guilty that my review pile isn't getting any shorter and that quite a few people are waiting for reviews.

10. Started to panic about my a) lack of reading motivation & b) lack of time for reading.

11. Closed down Google reader.

You're going to have to bear with me for a few days folks, because other than my shorts at Brief Encounters and the review I'm doing for Wave tomorrow, there's a whole lot of nothing happening for me, unless you count endless rounds of Jumblines on my ipad. You know it's bad when you'd rather run for the hills, or crack open a mindless word puzzle, than open a book so just give me a few days to recoup. Those of you waiting for reviews will just have to be a little more patient, sorry.

A Couple of Shorts to Start the New Year

2012-01-02T14:15:00.000Z

I know I usually do these on Saturday but I haven't done much reading over the past few days - due mostly to a re-read of Counterpoint: Song of the Fallen book 1 that I needed to do before I started the sequel, but also because a friend of mine recommended this totally addictive ipad word game app and I've been majorly distracted by that. Bad lady!

Both the shorts are from the fairly newish Storm Moon Press. I've been very impressed by the quality of the short stories coming out of this publisher and these two are no exception.

The Saturnalia Effect by Violetta Vane and Heidi Belleau

I read this story before Christmas and was going to review it then but I read a review at Pants Off Reviews (this was quite unusual because I rarely read reviews of books I'm going to review myself) which made me look at the story from an entirely different angle. Since then, I've spent a bit of time pondering the story. It begins as a fairly straightforward prison drama. Troy has been imprisoned when a robbery he was involved in with his twin brother went wrong. His brother killed a cop before going down in a hail of bullets, leaving Troy with the blame and a life sentence. He's struggling to get into the prison routine when former mobster Franchetti gives him a choice: Kill inmate Daniel or be killed himself. Troy sets out to seduce Daniel as a prelude to killing him, only to find himself drawn to Daniel whose presence offers safety and security to the out-of-his-depth Troy.

Troy was a very interesting character. He's been dominated by his twin all his life and now is adrift without his guiding presence. He's mentally not too stable, on the verge of a breakdown and the pressure of having to kill Daniel, plus the fact that he keeps being attacked by Franchetti's goon, allows us to see a man on the edge. Daniel protects Troy, but a bad experience in the past makes him keep Troy at arms length. So far so good. There's then a point in the book where the story reaches a crisis point, before moving into a slightly paranormal ending involving a statue of the god Saturn. This can either be taken at face value into a HEA, or it can be seen from the deranged point of view of a man who has lost everything and retreated into the security of his own mind. It was all rather clever and engaged my brain as I re-read the story from the alternative side of things, making it a much better and more unusual story than I thought at first.

The story isn't going to be to everyone's taste because there's a lot of rather graphic violence in the story, plus a hint of dub-con sex, but I thought it a unique twist on the usual romance stories out there. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

The Forester by Blaine D Arden

This story is a bit of a mix of fantasy and police procedure. It tells of elf Kelnaht who is a 'truth seeker' which is sort of the elf equivalent of a forensic police officer who uses his special elf-powers to determine the perpetrator of crimes. The story begins with discovery of a female elf who has been strangled. As part of the investigation Kelnaht is approached by his former lover Ianys, who abandoned their relationship so he could get married and have a child. Kelnaht is still bitter about this, despite Ianys wife having since died. Ianys confesses to Kelnaht that he is now the lover of The Forester, a shunned tree elf, who Kelnaht is also attracted to.

The fun of this story for me was in the details of the fantasy world created by the author. We learn so much about elf society through the story, but it's done in such a subtle way that the information is slotted in amongst the story, rather than there being any clumsy info-dumping. It was the little things - such as how Kelnaht has to fit his wings with his clothes, or the different roles that the elves adopt and their purposes in elf society which delighted me just as much as the larger story arc or the mystery.

The romance also worked well. It's an m/m/m story but the troubled relationship that Ianys and Kelnaht have together isn't glossed over or made instantly better. They still have a long way to go at the end and the HFN way the story ends fits well with the short format and the way the romance progresses.

This is the first story by this author but the richness of the prose and vivid setting in this story makes her one to watch out for in the future. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Favourite M/M Romance Books of 2011 Part 2

2011-12-30T07:00:00.001Z

Yesterday, I gave you the first half of my books of the year. Here's part two.

Urban Fantasy
The Infected Series by Andrea Speed
This is a bit of a cheat because I read the first two books of this series in 2010, and the second two in 2011. This series has become by far my favourite recent Urban Fantasy series. It's so much more than UF too with elements of mystery and paranormal mixed in with the alternative reality of a world where people can be infected with the cat virus. More than that though there's the character of Roan who pulls you in and keeps you reading. Marvellous. Review of the last two books HERE & HERE.

Comedy
Fun With Dick and Shane by Gillibran Brown
I fell in love with Gilli this year. His insightful diaries into the menage relationship he enjoys with Dick and Shane are often very, very funny, but also have a hint of pathos amongst the general silliness. It's not often that a books makes me laugh out loud so heartily. Highly entertaining. Review HERE.

Action/Adventure
Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
This first book in the Nightrunner series blends a couple of my favourite genres: Fantasy and Action/Adventure. It tells of teenager Alec who is rescued by a spy, Seregil, and becomes his apprentice/partner. The romance doesn't really happen until book 3 but until then there's lots of swashbuckling adventures involving necromancers and secret missions. I found it to be an exciting page-turner. Review HERE.

Historical
Mere Mortals by Erastes
My top three historicals of the year were all by the same author: Erastes. She really is one of the best GBLT historical writers out there at the moment and Mere Mortals showcases her talent perfectly. It's a drama set in the Norfolk broads and tells of orphan Crispin whose new guardian seems to have many secrets. It's a little creepy with an atmospheric setting of an old house, but by far the best thing was the relationship Crispin has with the other two orphans Myles and Jude. Review HERE.

Menage
Golidlocks and His Three Bears by AM Riley
This is another cheat because I first read this book years ago when it was at TQ. This year it's been revamped and reissued at LI so it almost counts as a new read this year. The story is just delightful and tells of Brian who, newly arrived in LA, is feeling a little lost. Through a series of circumstances he ends up bedding three room mates and the story tells of how their unconventional m/m/m/m relationship develops. The theme is fun and lighthearted but surprisingly very romantic and this is a book I consider a keeper. Review HERE.

Anthology
Bullied by Jeff Erno
I've read a few anthologies this year but none have packed such an emotional punch as this one. It's made up of a set of stories about teenage bullying of GBLT students. It could have been very bleak, and at least one story left me in tears, but on the whole these are also stories of hope and friendship and solidarity. The theme may not be to everyone's taste but I think this is an anthology that deserves some recognition. Review HERE.

Short Story
If It Aint Love by Tamara Allen
This historical story set during the great depression in the USA managed to combine historical detail about those terrible times with a pair of likeable heroes and a tender romance. It's amazing how much the author managed to pack into 18,000 words but this really is a fantastic example of how a short story should be written. Review HERE.

Overall book of 2011

The Rifter by Ginn Hale

Well, it had to be really didn't it? At over 1000 pages this serialised novel is simply amazing. Rich in detail with a vivid setting, it has at its core a love story which spans worlds and time itself. I've waited impatiently each month for the next installment to arrive in my inbox and have thoroughly enjoyed reading and reviewing it throughout the 10 month period it was released. I can't recommend this highly enough and is well worth the money to buy the whole book. Reviews of all 10 parts HERE.

So there you have it. My books of the year. It's been tough to sort through all the books I've read and select particular favourites, especially in the fantasy genre because, as I said yesterday, I've read so many fantasy books this year. Overall though, if you try any of the books I've recommended here - or even any of the books I've given a grade of 'Excellent' to on this blog, then you are not going to be disappointed.

Favourite M/M Romance Books of 2011 Part 1

2011-12-29T07:00:00.002Z

It's that time of year when everyone is writing the lists of their favourite books. As with two years ago (I wasn't around last year to do this) I shall divide my list into two and post half today and half tomorrow. I had a bit of difficulty this year in choosing some of the books for the categories because I realised that I have read A LOT of fantasy books. Lots and lots in fact and not too many of other genres. This means I've swapped the categories around a bit by removing horror (I only read 3 horror short stories) and adding YA instead because I read a few of them. It also means that some books in the categories are fantasy and another genre - you'll see what I mean. All the books in my list were read during 2011 but may not have been published this year.

Let's get on with it, shall we?

Contemporary
Reverb by Jet Mykles
This book had one of my favourite themes of famous characters, but looked at the darker side of the music industry as well as touching on the highs and lows of fame. The troubled relationship between the heroes was compelling and I could hardly put the book down. Review HERE.

Mystery
The Boystown Series by Marshall Thornton
This eighties set detective series has been compulsive reading for me. I guarantee once you start the series you'll want to read through the rest. Nick Nowak is a cynical and promiscuous narrator whose sexual exploits leave a bitter taste with the emerging AIDS virus starting to affect the gay community. Review HERE, HERE & HERE.

Fantasy
Scorpion by Aleksandr Voinov
Amazing and far reaching story of a mercenary soldier whose loyalty to the band of soldiers to which he belongs leads him to many adventures. This was almost my book of the year and I can't recommend it highly enough. Review HERE.

Speculative Fiction
Out of the Woods by Syd McGinley
I know this hasn't been to everyone's taste, but I loved the character of Tarin who is a mix of child-like emotions and canny intelligence. The D/s relationship he has with his captor 'Beak nose' was at times amusing and very touching. Review HERE.

Paranormal
The Usual Apocalypse by Christine Price
I loved the pairing of the workaholic Matthew with the gregarious and charismatic Brennan. The mystery story worked well alongside the paranormal elements, and the incidental details in the world building made this a gripping and entertaining read. Review HERE.

Young Adult
The Evolution of Ethan Poe by Robin Reardon
I don't often read YA books but this year I have a few on my reading list. This was by far the best and tells of Ethan whose small town becomes embroiled in a debate around teaching Intelligent Design in science lessons. The beauty for me though was in the blossoming self awareness of Ethan. Highly recommended.

Alpha Hero
Lucan from Dark Heart by Thom Lane
This has been a difficult one for me this year because it's become less and less the case where we get stories containing true Alpha Heroes. Often the characters are on more of an equal level in terms of personalities and preferences in bed. In the end my choice is taken from a series of slave/master fantasy books I've discovered and liked this year. Lucan's actions are very much in keeping with the setting of the book. He's a hard master to poor Tam at times, but I liked to see the growing affection he develops for Tam as the book progresses.

Beta Hero
Daniel Halstrom from Anchored: Belonging by Rachel Haimowitz
This is a contentious choice because I know the book divided readers between those who loved it and those who hated it. I really, really liked the character of Daniel and thought he stayed strong despite the terrible things that happen to him. Review HERE.

So there you go, my books of the year so far. Do you agree with me?

Call back tomorrow to see the second part of the list including my overall book of the year.

Review: Daddy, Daddy and Me by Sean Michael

2011-12-28T12:57:00.001Z

I'm a bit of a fan of Sean Michael's short stories, finding them hot and kinky, but not so much of his longer books. This is mainly because his longer novels tend to mostly sex with the tiniest bit of plot slotted in amongst all the hot and heavy. However, just occasionally the author releases a longer book where the plot takes precedence over the sex, and Daddy, Daddy and Me is an example of such a book.

The story begins with Donny who has recently graduated as a specialist in early years care. He's trying to find a job in child care as a nanny but is finding it difficult to pass an interview because even if people can get past the fact that he's a man, they soon show him the door once he reveals that he is gay. He arrives at Jeff's house feeling generally despondent to discover a house in chaos. The baby is screaming, the three year old is refusing to have a bath and Jeff is hopping around with blood dripping out of his foot. Donny immediately takes charge and once the house is peaceful, Jeff, who has been left with two small children after his best friend died, hires him. Donny is over the moon, especially because Jeff is gay too, and once Jeff's has had chance to get some sleep, Donny realises that he's also very attractive.

In the end I had a mixed response to this book. I'm always a little wary of books with children in them because they always seem to be these idealised version of kids which doesn't tally with my own experiences. Fortunately this wasn't the case with this book, as I felt that the author had done a good job of showing the joys and the difficulties in raising children. Most of the story is about the way that the men work together to look after the kids and so the children did feature quite a lot. Just occasionally I did wonder why neither of the men seemed to need a break and even when it was Donny's days off he still didn't take time for himself. I found that rather odd.

Another thing that worked for me was in Jeff and Donny's growing regard and affection for each other. Their feelings grow quite quickly but I felt that was realistic given that they spend so much time with each other. The move from employer/employee to lovers was organic and smooth, and again took the children into consideration. I also liked the way that the grandparents of the children were present in their lives and pleased to see Jeff and Donny happy together.

The final thing I liked was that the story allowed space for Jeff and his son to grieve over the death of Beth. Donny's arrival means that Jeff can finally draw breath and face his reactions to Beth's death and there were several touching scenes where Jeff grieves for her. Robin may only be three, but he's old enough to know his Mom is gone and yet not understand why. The scenes where Jeff and Donny have to cope with a confused little boy tugged at my heart strings without ever becoming overly sentimental and mawkish.

What didn't work so well for me was the character of Mitch, Jeff's ex-lover. He was such a missed opportunity in my opinion. Mitch leaves Jeff after the kids arrive, horrified that their cozy life together has been invaded by nappies, crying children and sleepless nights. Jeff is very upset that Mitch chose to end their seven years together, as is understandable, but I could also understand Mitch's point of view too. It must have been hard for him to have his life changed like that when he was never interested in children and it seemed realistic that if he couldn't cope he would leave. Not everyone wants or even likes children. However, instead of allowing us to have a measure of sympathy for Mitch, he's turned into some kind of monstrous, evil selfish man. It wasn't enough that he's branded a selfish asshole by everyone just because he doesn't like children, he becomes a psychotic, unhinged money grabbing maniac. It was entirely unnecessary and I would have been much happier if Mitch either didn't appear bodily in the book, left only to be the selfish man who left Jeff, or even better that we could have seen a man who had to make a choice and chose his own needs over that of his lover's children. This would have provided a much more nuanced character than the one we get with Mitch.

My feelings about Mitch and the rather over the top way he behaves in the story coloured my view of the book overall, so that whilst I liked Donny and Jeff, and thought the story on the whole an enjoyable and satisfying read, I still would give this book a grade of 'Good'. It may be that many readers wouldn't be put off by Mitch's character, in which case I would recommend this book to you.

Buy this book HERE.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.003Z

Merry Christmas to all my blog readers!

Hope you are all having a fabulous day, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and I'll see you here next week I'll be announcing my favourite books of 2011.

Riptide Winners for this week

2011-12-24T19:30:00.000Z

I had two Riptide giveaways this week. Thank you to all of you who left comments on the guest posts for Cat Grant and Rhi Etzweiler.

The winner of the Cat Grant giveaway which is a choice of one of Allegro Vivace, Sonata Appassionata, The First Real Thing (Icon Men #1), Appearing Nightly (Icon Men #2), A Fool for You (Icon Men #3), or Entangled Trio is....

BOOKWYRM369

The winner of the Rhi Etzweiler giveaway which is First Wave Winner’s Choice: Pick any one backlist book from Rachel Haimowitz, Aleksandr Voinov, L.A. Witt, Brita Addams, or Cat Grant (“Frontlist” books, i.e. Riptide releases and newest non-Riptide release, are excluded, as are the Courtland Chronicles) is ...

SABRINA

Congratulations to you both! I've passed your email addresses onto Riptide and they'll be in touch with you soon.

Even if you haven't won, you still have a chance to win prizes as all the names have gone into the overall draw for the Riptide Launch Party. See here for details of that, and good luck!

Review: Miracle of the Bellskis by Astrid Amara

2011-12-22T11:57:00.001Z

Last year I really enjoyed Astrid Amara's Hanukkah story Love Ahead: Expect Delays, and so I was looking forward to her offering this year. At first I was a little dismayed to discover that the story was a sequel to Carol of the Bellskis which I haven't read, but it seemed a good excuse to buy and read that first book so I could get this one too. I loved Carol of the Bellskis which I reviewed briefly on Good Reads here, and so that made me look forward to reading this book.

Whilst, in the end, I didn't enjoy this one as much as Carol of the Bellskis, it was still a really great read. It picks up the story three years after the first book. Lars is now out to his family and, having sold his half of the partnership of his previous law firm, is now in business on his own. Seth has passed the bar and is working as an attorney for a friend of Lars, Violet, because he wants to gain some independent experience away from Lars' influence. All would be perfect except that Lars' parents are coming to stay for Christmas, meeting Seth for the first time, and Seth finds that he has to juggle to expectations of his family at Hanukkah with coping with the frosty behaviour of Lars' parents.

What I liked about this story was that it was less about Hanukkah itself and more about the slight clash of Jewish/Christian traditions around this time of year. Previous Hanukkah stories from this author have focused on the importance of Jewish family and traditions, but with the addition of Lars' parents, the focus shifts to how they view Seth's Jewish traditions and how he views their Christian traditions. This was handled in a very sensitive fashion, and is a gradual creeping theme through the story so that I never felt that either tradition was being favoured over the other.

The visit from Lars' parents is a cause of contention between Seth and Lars, leading to arguments, but on the whole I liked that they were a united front against the cold treatment from Lars' parents. I especially like the scenes where Seth stands up for Lars, or for himself. This is something I've always liked about the character of Seth. He's not afraid to tell people exactly what he thinks, even if it's not the more diplomatic way of going about things. In this book it works in his favour, as his forthrightness coupled with a 'through gritted teeth' determination to make the best of the situation because he want things to be better for Lars, is just the right thing to do for Lar's parents.

Where the story didn't work so well was in the plot involving a divorce case. Seth and Lars find themselves on opposite sides when Seth takes on a last minute divorce case. This would have been fine, expect that I'm sure there could have been a better way of resolving the problems they encounter other than the grand gesture that Lars makes towards the end of the story (sorry for being vague, I don't want to give away spoilers). I can see why it was used because it not only gave the story a dramatic push but it allowed all the characters in the story to gather in one place, but the whole thing felt a little forced. Other than that part, I liked the way that Seth's working life is shown, such as the haphazard way that Seth and Violet run the office, compared the Lars' much more organised way of doing things. It was also nice to see the pair working as attorneys as it gave a different perspective on their relationship.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this novella length story. I loved revisiting Seth and Lars and was happy to see them having successfully worked through the problems from the previous books. Even the niggle with the divorce case wasn't enough to really spoil things to much for me and I would happily recommend Miracle of the Bellskis with a grade of 'Excellent'.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Dreams by Addison Albright

2011-12-21T19:41:00.000Z

I've read quite a number of Addison Albright shorts and when I saw this self-published anthology, I thought I'd give it a go. The book is made up of two novellas and a short story and all the stories are linked through the characters, although quite distinct and separate too. Because of this, I shall take each story in turn.

A Dream Come True
This novella tells of Wes who is looking for a new place to live. He's always been out and proud but when he's been fobbed off several times by potential room mates who discover he's gay, he decides to keep the next viewing a little more low key. It turns out that he didn't need to bother when the guy, Mike, recognises Wes from University. Mike was deep in the closet at the time and admired Wes for being so upfront about his sexuality. Mike is out now, but still hasn't told his parents. He and Wes hit it off straightaway and begin what seems to be a 'room mates with benefits' relationship. It isn't long though before both men are surprised at how well they gel and start wanting more, but Mike still needs to come out to his parents, and both are wary of things going too fast for them.

This was one of those stories which tells of two really great guys feeling their way into a new relationship. There's a little bit of stress and lots of sweet loving moments which prove just how right they are for each other. The themes of the story were handled well with Mike's worries about coming out to his family being realistic, as was the way that men were unsure how to handle what were fast growing feelings for each other. It fitted with their characters that both of them held off saying anything for a while, and even tiptoed around their realtionship a little. For example neither of them know how quite to introduce the other person when 'room mate' doesn't really seem appropriate. The plot is very gentle, even a little slow at times, but that fit in with their developing feelings. I liked both men and was interested enough to want to know how the story would work out for them. I wasn't disappointed as the end left me with a smile on my face.

Another Dream
This story follows Mike's uncle, Marty, who left home at 18 after a confrontation with his parents when he came out to them. It's 20 years on and he's now a successful joiner/carpenter. Marty's been lusting after his shy neighbour Larry ever since he moved in a few weeks ago, and finally gets the opportunity to ask Larry out. Larry can't believe his luck when his hot neighbour asks him out but his introvert nature and low self esteem makes it difficult to understand what Marty sees in him.

This was another slow burner of a story with a plotting style similar to the first. Here we see the men meet, go on a date, have sex and then gradually come together into a relationship. This was my favourite out of the anthology, mainly because I'm a bit of a sucker for a guy with low self esteem. I liked that Larry wasn't conventionally handsome, and more than that, that he didn't undergo a 'transformation' to suddenly become hot property. Instead he remains the same guy throughout, with the only changes being that Marty does wonders for his self image, showing him the desirable man inside. Larry is good for Marty too by convincing him to get in touch with his estranged family. I also really liked the way that the pair played on the fetish that Larry has for Marty's toolbelt! Like the previous book, the pair fit well as a couple and the fun of the story was seeing them slowly come to the realisation that what they have is special. Overall, it was a nicely written, very romantic with a touch of hot in the sex scenes. Great stuff.

Dreaming of You
This was the shortest of the three stories at only 30 or so pages. It follows Trevor, who is a former lover of Marty's. He's got to the stage in life where he's fed up of playing the scene and just wants to settle down. He thought that Marty might be the person for him, not realising that Marty only ever saw him as a good occasional lay. After Marty and Larry get together, Trevor is feeling even worse. He's approached at a club by Quinn (who also featured in the previous story), and although Trevor treats Quinn with disdain, Trevor finds himself drawn to him and the odd sense of security he sees in Quinn.

For me this was the weakest of the stories, mainly because I didn't get enough about either character to make me connect well with them. The story is focused mostly in and around the time in the club, with a short scene at Trevor's house. As such we learn next to nothing about the lives of the two main characters. When placed next to the first two novellas, which were filled with great, well rounded characterisation, these guys come across as a little flat and one dimensional. That isn't to say that this story is a total write off because it isn't. The story is taken from Trevor's point of view, and it was nice to see him change from the sarcastic bitchy character we see in the previous story, to one who lowers his defenses and allows Quinn to see inside to the real man. I particularly liked that Quinn sees Trevor when not looking his best and still thinks he's attractive. The final chapter of the story is entitled Closure and a Fresh Start and this was very appropriate given how the story ends. It was nice to see Trevor blossoming under the influence of good friends, but I really wish I'd had more from both him and Quinn to have been entirely happy with the story.

Overall this anthology was one of those nice, easy reads with great characters and a romantic storyline. It would be perfect for a lazy afternoon in front of the fire and I would recommend it with a grade of 'Very Good'.

Buy this book HERE.

Guest Post: Thy Vampires Shall Not Sparkle by Rhi Etzweiler

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000Z

Today I'm pleased to introduce Rhi Etzweiler to my blog. She's here as part of the Riptide Publishing blog tour where there are lots of prizes to be won - click here for the prizes. Today Rhi is talking about her upcoming Riptide release, Blacker Than Black. Over to you, Rhi!

Back about four or five years ago, I had a very good writer-friend challenge me to “do something completely different.” At the time, I was in one of those uninspired slumps, trying to work on editing/revising a story, and spinning my wheels in Mississippi Mud.

We both were, actually. Trying to revise, I mean. And doing little more than flinging mud about, too, I imagine. The idea of writing short stories to sub to e-zines and anthologies, to get our names out there in the industry and build our writer resume’s, was a daunting necessity if breaking into print were to ever happen.

The biggest obstacle in revisions at that time was getting into the head of my MC, a young and inexperienced female character that I quickly discovered an inability to relate to. It was easier for me, I found, to write her story from the POV’s of the sundry male characters in the story around her. Their stories would unfold smoothly, the prose flowing without effort.

There was a “Red Light District” anthology call out around that time. NanoWrimo was coming up. I remember thinking, okay something completely different from a fantasy epic written in third person past tense—dark speculative fiction written in first person, present tense?!

I needed to get away from the female character POV. Did it have to be male, though? I remember reading through the anthology call, and that’s what they were focusing on—streetwalkers, in the more conventionally accepted sense. Solution? Use the asset of first person, and don’t make any gender references at all. Let the reader assume. Forget “red light” cliché, I went with blue. No selling sex, my streetwalkers were chi-whores. Their johns—energy vampires.

It was a struggle, that total shift in writing technique. I think I typed every sentence two or three times, constantly catching myself slipping back into third person, or past tense. But slowly, very slowly, the character sank in and clicked, and the story began to gain momentum.

And so Black the Nightwalker was born from a frenzy of fifty-thousand words. It started out with the intention of being a short story, but it never stopped unfolding. There's more to this, Black kept saying. Keep going. Which is precisely what the muse-slave did, of course. It was a really long first chapter, so I polished it up to work as a standalone, and subbed it. The anthology editors declined to acquire it. Over the course of the following year and NanoWrimo I churned out the rest of Black’s story. It was a full-length novel.

And I’d discovered a story wherein I challenged the mold of the dual gender limitation. You’re one or the other. Not in “Blacker Than Black.” Over the ensuing years, attempts to garner feedback and beta input—through the normal channels of fellow writers—had seriously mixed results. Why are you obscuring the narrator’s gender? Is Black male or female?!?! First person present tense is for amateurs. I can tell it’s a romance but I don’t know the gender of the narrator; that’s keeping me from liking it.

Over, and over again. Black would flat-out refuse to cooperate or even entertain such notions. And I found myself wondering, why’s it matter so much?

Even now, years later, Black’s story is a tad bit “ahead of its time” still, but I don’t love it any less. If anything, I love it more now for those aspects that make it stand out and set it apart. A difficult challenge for any publisher to think of marketing, understandably, but a story that demanded to be written nonetheless. And I thank Riptide’s staff for believing in Black.

Thank you for that interesting insight into Blacker Than Black, Rhi!

Riptide Publishing has very kindly offered up a First Wave Winner’s Choice: Pick any one backlist book from Rachel Haimowitz, Aleksandr Voinov, L.A. Witt, Brita Addams, or Cat Grant (“Frontlist” books, i.e. Riptide releases and newest non-Riptide release, are excluded, as are the Courtland Chronicles) as a prize for those who leave a comment on this post. You have until 11pm on Friday 23rd December and I shall announce the winners on Christmas Eve. Good luck!

Guest Post: My Inspiration for Once a Marine by Cat Grant

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000Z

Today I'm pleased to introduce the lovely Cat Grant to my blog. She's here as part of the Riptide Publishing blog tour where there are lots of prizes to be won - click here for the prizes. Today Cat is talking about where she got the idea for her recent Riptide release, Once a Marine, which I reviewed here. Over to you, Cat!

I’ve always held a great deal of respect for those men and women who’ve chosen to put on a uniform to defend their country. The dedication, the personal sacrifice… well, it’s not something I could ever envision myself doing, even when I was young enough – not to mention thin enough! – to sign up.

I’ve been wanting to write a story dealing with Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for awhile now, but I couldn’t see how to give it a happy ending until the policy was officially repealed last year. I knew I wanted it to be a story about personal sacrifice, with a main character who struggles to embrace his sexual identity after spending his entire life up to that point in the closet. I wanted to explore what happens when a warrior is sent home in disgrace, left to pick up the pieces of his shattered life alone.

A pretty daunting undertaking, since my family has no tradition of military service. Despite living near the Defense Language Institute and Naval Post-Graduate School here in Monterey, I couldn’t find a real, live Marine (gay or straight) who was willing to talk to me. So I had to do my research the hard way – in books.

I read Steven Zeeland’s The Masculine Marine and Military Trade (all about military men and men – and women – who chase after them), Rich Merritt’s Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star and Joseph Steffan’s Annapolis memoir, Honor Bound. But it was Rachel Maddow’s series of interviews with American servicemen and women facing discharge under DADT that proved most valuable to me. Putting faces with uniforms, hearing firsthand about the onerous burden of serving under DADT really hammered it all home for me. When Army Captain Jonathan Hopkins talked about his decision to put his personal life on hold until his stint was over, because it wouldn’t be fair to his partner to ask the man to go back in the closet for Hopkins’s sake, I knew I had the model for my Marine hero, Cole Hammond.

I can only hope I’ve done my story – and the sacrifice of so many valiant men and women – justice.

Here's the blurb:

Love is a battlefield.

Discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, former Marine major Cole Hammond is struggling to find a new identity. But PTSD casts a pall on everything, and his hard-nosed, homophobic father can’t even bear to look him in the eye. To top it all off, he’s pretty sure he’s flunking out of law school.

Marc Sullivan is a kind, sensitive romance author-slash-waiter with a thing for men in uniform. Cole’s not wearing his anymore, but there’s no mistaking the warrior Marc meets in the diner one rainy afternoon. Cole’s sexy smile and Carolina drawl prove irresistible, but Marc’s played this game before, and he always loses. Once a Marine, always a Marine, and if there’s one thing Marc knows about such men, it’s that they all leave him in the end. It doesn’t help that Cole’s practically closeted in public, or that he refuses to seek treatment for his PTSD.

But like any good Marine, Cole’s willing to fight for what matters. And like the characters in Marc’s stories, he’s certain that if they try just hard enough, together they can find their own happily ever after.

You can read an excerpt and purchase Once a Marine right here.

Visit Cat here:
Email address: bittermint2007@gmail.com
Website
Blog
Twitter: @CatGrant2009
Facebook
Goodreads Page

Thank you for that interesting insight into how Once a Marine came about, Cat!

Cat has very kindly offered up the choice of one of Allegro Vivace, Sonata Appassionata, The First Real Thing (Icon Men #1), Appearing Nightly (Icon Men #2), A Fool for You (Icon Men #3), or Entangled Trio as a prize for those who leave a comment on this post. You have until 11pm on Friday 23rd December and I shall announce the winners on Christmas Eve. Good luck!

Kari Gregg Winner

2011-12-18T15:38:00.001Z

Thank you to all of you who left a comment on Kari Gregg's guest post on Monday. If you missed the post and want a chance to read, it's here.

Kari had offered up a copy of a book from her back list as a prize and the winner is...

SARAH S

Congratulations, Sarah S. I've passed your email onto Riptide Publishing and they should be in touch with you shortly.

Even if you haven't won, you still have a chance to win prizes as all the names have gone into the overall draw for the Riptide Launch Party. See here for details of that, and good luck!

Review: A Cornwall Novella 2: Simple Gifts by LB Gregg

2011-12-17T15:46:00.000Z

It's been a while since an LB Gregg release so I was pleased to see this Christmas story at Musa Publishing. It tells of Jason who prefers to avoid all the socialising that happens around Christmas. Unfortunately, his good friend Sunny, isn't letting him get away with it this year and drags him along to her family's Christmas shindig at their new mansion type house. Whilst there Jason sees Sunny's brother, Robb, who's just been released from the military. Jason has had a crush on Robb for years but always seems to end up making a fool of himself in front of Robb. It seems that things never change for Jason as whilst he attempting to slip away unnoticed he's felled by a rogue Christmas lawn decoration, and it's up to Robb to get him to the hospital.

As with all LB Gregg stories this one is filled with great humour and observational comedy. Jason's clumsiness - both physically and socially provides a lot of the comedy, as does his sharp wit and self deprecatory narrative. However, there are more serious themes in and amongst the laughs. Jason's very conscious that his upbringing as an orphan often leaves him unprepared and awkward when it comes to social situations, and this gives us flashes of a painful past for Jason. Robb has also suffered a great deal whilst on active duty, as we can see from this first description of Robb:

Gaunt and rawboned, he’d aged ten years, easily. Time had stamped lines on his face and something, maybe experience, hardened him.

As with many first person narratives we don't get to know much about Robb, but there's enough given in the impressions that Jason gets, their conversations and Robb's quiet disclosures that hint of a lot of pain and bad experiences. I liked that there was no quick fix for Robb, no instant healing via sex. It made the ending all that more worthwhile when it happened.

My favourite thing about the story was the unusual character of Jason. We find out that he's so much more than clever words, and slightly neurotic behaviour. Instead he's a man who has struggles with a past which he refuses to let define him; a man who has developed coping strategies; a man who has his own business; a man who sees what Robb is going through and does exactly the right thing to help. Jason made me smile and laugh out loud at some of his thoughts, but he also brought a tear to my eye and made my heart ache for him.

Overall, this was just a marvellous seasonal short with a good mix of slapstick and observational humour, with some more sombre and quiet moments. The serious themes didn't overwhelm the story but they were also given enough space to be dealt with appropriately. The end left me with the warm fuzzies. Those readers who are looking for a short story to read this Christmas should definitely pick this one up and it gets a grade of 'Excellent' from me.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: A Chip in His Shoulder by LA Witt

2011-12-16T13:16:00.000Z

I'm a bit of a fan of LA Witt's writing and so I was pleased to see this new story at Riptide Publishing, mainly because it seemed to break away from her usual contemporary romance stories. It's a sci-fi/fantasy story which tells of vampire Liam who was cast out of his upper-class family when he was discovered to have a male human lover. He ended in the 'Gutter' where pollution, poverty and crime rule the streets and eventually made his living as a hit man with all the latest body modifications. As the story starts Liam is hired by the father of the man who was the cause of his destitution, Daniel. Liam is pleased to finally take his revenge by killing the man he used to love, but once in Daniel's apartment he discovers that not all is as it seems and the pair have to work together to escape the trap they have fallen into.

I had a rather mixed reaction to this story in the end. I really liked the breadth of imagination in the setting and the world building. The social hierarchy of those who live in the sky with those who live in the gutter; plus the use of body modifications and the way that causes tension between the characters were interesting and only one or two steps away from what could be a future reality. This made the story firmly grounded in the believable whilst also being in the realms of fantasy.

I also liked the fast paced escape plot. I was on the edge of my seat a number of times, wondering how the plan was going to work and whether the men would be able to escape from their predicament. The set up with the characters trapped in the apartment and their plans for escape made for an exciting and tense read. This was then combined with a clever use of the technology in Liam to make the story a little bit unusual. I read quickly through the book wanting to know what was going to happen.

Where the book didn't work for me was in the characters of Liam and Daniel. I'm afraid I didn't like either of them. Daniel was too smug and self satisfied at first, before changing and acting in a totally irrational manner, and then suddenly giving up all his antagonism towards Liam as they reunited. I liked Liam a little more, but still found him to be cold-hearted and his bitterness was unappealing. Like Daniel, his change of heart was a little too sudden for my liking. More than that though, they are both played for fools by Daniel's father and it was his unseen presence which grated on my nerves. I can only assume that this is going to be a series because the story ends with little or no resolution to their situation, other than escape and regroup. I felt a little cheated out of seeing Daniel's father brought down, and maybe I have to be patient and wait for further books.

So overall, whilst the plot was fast paced and well written, I didn't really connect with or like the characters. This means that I'm giving this book a grade of 'Good'. Don't let me put you off though as other readers may like the main characters a little more than I did.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: David and Andrew Book 1: One Night in December by Terry O'Reilly

2011-12-15T19:06:00.000Z

I've read a few Terry O'Reilly books and find them often to be quite sweet reads but with stories which don't shy away from the harsher realities of life. That was certainly the case with this book. It begins with widowed school PE teacher, David, who has been in a bit of a funk since his wife died. He loved her dearly and had a good life with her, enjoying many aspects of being a family man but he is also gay and had a number of 'friends with benefits' outside his marriage. Now he's not interested in anything any more until he decides to come to the rescue of a homeless man, Andrew and discovers that there is such a thing as love at first sight.

Now I know what you're all thinking, yes this is an insta-love story, and yes it did work for me this time. Don't faint! The reason it worked is because the instant love at first sight happens right at the start of the story when the men meet and then the book follows the men over several years of their relationship. I have to admit that I was a little taken aback in the first few pages because the period of time between the men meeting, declaring their love and David coming out to all his kids and proclaiming he's with Andrew is less than a week. I stuck with the story though and the rest of the book shows them living together through many problems, as Andrew gets back on his feet and David copes with being newly out to the world. This meant that we get to see them being together over a sustained period of time and as such made me much happier with the way their relationship first developed.

The story is structured in such a way as it jumps forward in time, often by months and highlights certain major conflicts and milestones in their relationship. This was both a plus and a negative for me because it made the plotting a little choppy and episodic whilst allowing us to see a fairly quick progression through the years. My favourite parts were those that related to David's family. He obviously adores his children and grandchildren and I liked that they had different reactions to Andrew. It wasn't all plain sailing for them which seemed a more realistic scenario than everyone suddenly being OK to find out their dad was in a gay relationship.

I also liked that the story has an older man for a hero. There's a gap of maybe 15 years between them and David must be somewhere in his late 50's early 60's (although I'm not wholly sure about this because their ages are never specifically mentioned). The age gap was never overplayed and David often jokes about being a bit of an old man but you can tell that Andrew finds this attractive.

The parts that didn't work for me was in some of the sex scenes which were a little 'dry' at times and there was a distinct lack of condom use during their first few sex scenes. Plus I would have liked to have seen a little more of David showing Andrew 'the ropes' when it came to sex between men, as that is one of the areas where we jump forward in time, especially as the first sex scene together made me (and David) wince at Andrew's obvious inexperience. I was also a little uncomfortable at David's thirty years of infidelity with his wife. It made him a less sympathetic character in my eyes and I was a little wary that he may do the same with Andrew. Fortunately my mind was laid to rest with that one later in the book.

This book is supposed to be the first in a series, but I'm not really sure where else the story can go after this one, unless it was just more of the same. This story ends happily showing the two men well into what I would consider a HEA and I'm not certain I would be that bothered about reading further books about them. They were nice guys, their story was sweet and very touching in places, the writing was good, but the book didn't grab my attention in a big way. I read on because I was interested in their story and the pacing was a gentle pull through their lives. I was glad to have read it and it gets a grade of 'Good' from me. Those readers who like stories with older protagonists or who are looking for a sweet tale which revisits the Christmas season at several points in the book, should give this one a go.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Love Means...Healing by Andrew Grey

2011-12-14T14:07:00.002Z

Those fans of the Love Means series will be glad to see this short novella, I think. It fills in a gap in the overall story by allowing us to see how Len and Chris' relationship developed. This means that this story doesn't follow on from the end of the last book, Love Means...No Fear, but rather fits into the Chronological timeline after the end of Love Means...No Shame. I found it rather sweet to see the young Joey, and also Geoff and Eli's first flush of love again.

I probably wasn't the only reader who was curious as to how those two got together and especially how Len manages to overcome his grief for Cliff. The story begins just over six months after the death of Cliff. Len has recovered from the first crippling months of grief but he's still missing Cliff terribly. He's got to the stage where he's starting to be able to face the world again and to do this he pays a visit to his and Cliff's special place. It's a time of healing for Len, so when he starts to feel an attraction to the new stable hand at the farm, Chris, Len is filled with confusion and guilt. It's too soon for him to move on with another man, but Chris' gentle persistence begins to break down some of Len's barriers.

I have to admit that at first I was a little wary of this story. I loved Len and Cliff in Love Means...Courage, and there was a part of me which didn't want Len to move on from Cliff. However, I also knew that Len was a still a young man in his forties and deserved a second chance at love. The story takes place over a few months, culminating at Christmas, and the main focus is not just on the romance, but also on how Len begins to pick up the reins of his life and move on. As such the story is mostly Len's story, and if I have any niggles it's that I wish I could have got to know Chris a little better too. We find out some about his time in the Marines, and how that has shaped him as a person as well as the long period of self-denial he has enforced upon himself. We also find out a little about a past relationship, but other than that Chris is a bit of a dark horse. That doesn't mean to say I didn't like him because I did, in fact his gentleness, understanding and patience with Len was one of the main plus points for me in this book, just that I could have done with knowing more.

In the end, my fears about the romance were unfounded as this is a charming and delightful story. The two men fit each other well and I liked that Chris is a very different personality to Cliff. The relationship moves so slowly, allowing Len to set aside his grief and come to terms with his attraction for Chris, that the pacing worked for me and I never felt that Cliff was being 'forgotten'about or set aside too soon because that would have cheapened the love that Len felt for Cliff. Instead Chris' patience and the slower pacing of the plot shows us that he's a man worthy of Len's love and I finished the book with a smile on my face for both men.

I also liked the fact that this is a romance containing older men. The way that Len and Chris are products of their past was done well, showing how their age and experience has matured them for the better. It made them more thoughtful characters, less prone to the wilder emotions of youth, and therefore very sympathetic characters to me.

Fans of this series are going to really like this book. It allows us to see how Len and Chris meet whilst also providing a sweetly charming seasonal love story and I would recommend it. Grade: Very Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Winter Warmers Anthology by Pink Squirrel Press

2011-12-13T14:37:00.001Z

Today is a two review day. This is mainly because I started writing this review last week but then ran out of steam about half way through (it was getting late). Today has been the first opportunity I've had to finish it, so I thought I'd get it out whilst I could.

I was really pleased when I heard that this anthology was going to be released. It features four well loved authors in Clare London, Chrissy Munder, Josephine Myles and JL Merrow, plus Lou Harper whose a fairly new author but I liked her story Between Friends in the DSP June Daily Dose anthology, so I knew I was in for a treat with these stories and I wasn't disappointed. This is not an anthology of Christmas stories, but rather each story is set in winter, and as such can be read at any time of the year.

Before I do a round up of each story, I just want to highlight something that really worked for me in this anthology as a whole, which was that each story was firmly routed in its setting, and that each setting was very different to the others. This meant that I was taken from the rather claustrophobic setting of a British Junior school, to the snow and freezing temperatures of a Michigan winter, to the milder winter of Santa Monica, to the canals and architecture of Amsterdam, and finally to London. I found this variety very pleasing indeed.

Clare London's story, Lucky Dip, really showcased the author's talent for situational comedy as it is set in the hectic world of the school Christmas Fair. Year two (7-8 year olds) teacher, Andy, is struggling to get his class stall erected whilst looking after the child of one of the parent helpers. He's pretty annoyed when he finds himself placed next to the lucky dip stall with is being run by his ex-lover Greg. What I really liked about the story, other than the great little jokes about working in a school and dealing with children, was the way that the men were forced to confront their feelings and deal with their issues. It made it impossible for them to run away from the situation, and as such allowed them time to make amends in a realistic fashion. Plus the tone was so lighthearted and fun that it made the story an enjoyable start to the anthology.

Butterscotch Kisses by Chrissy Munder was a change in tone to something a little more sombre, at first. This was a welcome quieter story which focused on Matthew who is trying to overcome his fear of heights. Each day he returns to the toboggan run where his previous boyfriend dumped him in order to try and climb up to the run, and each day he fails. His visits are brightened by chatting to the 'cute ticket guy' who rescues Matthew when a sudden storm blows in. I really felt for Matthew at the beginning as he struggles with something he really has no hope in conquering. My heart ached for his lack of self confidence and I loved the sweet beginnings of his romance with Adam and how that gave him the push he needs to keep going. The little touches, such as Adam's hat and the way he warms Matthew up, not only with heat, but with his words meant that I enjoyed this story a great deal.

Lou Harper's story, Wintertide, was a quieter read and was perfect for the middle of an anthology. It's a May to December romance which takes the theme of moving on from grief. Jem is a young man with a dead end job who takes a trip out to Santa Monica where he meets Oscar, a middle aged man. They click well together but Oscar has to let go of the past before he can move on into a future with Jem. I have a fondness for older/younger man romances and whilst these two don't initially seem as though they would fit together with their different backgrounds and outlook on life, I thought the author did a good job of showing the potential for them as a couple. It's a story of new beginnings and as such we leave them as a HFN, but I felt that worked best within the context of the story and I still felt optimistic for them in the future.

The fourth story, When in Amsterdam by Josephine Myles, was set in Amsterdam during their Sinterklaas celebrations. Black guy Brandon is not happy to see all the 'Golliwogs' in the windows of the stores and no matter how much his Dutch lover Jos tries to explain that they are Pieten, or elves, it doesn't stop Brandon feeling uncomfortable. The pair shelter from the rain in what turns out to be a sex shop where Brandon surprises himself at how much he is turned on by a particular leather harness. There were two elements to this story which worked well for me. Firstly, I loved the setting, especially with the time of year and I very much enjoyed reading about the traditions and the architecture in the city. Secondly, this was a story about changing your perceptions of yourself and I liked the slow way Brandon chases away his misconceptions of Jos' submissiveness, and begins to learn how to make that work within their relationship. I was fanning my face at some of the sexual tension but was so much more than just hot sex, it was also about making a relationship work. Great stuff.

The final story was A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips and Thou by JL Merrow, and was an amusing story full of quirky characters and observational wit. It's taken from the first person narrative of Liam who lives with a coven of witches made up of his mother and two aunts, and who makes his living busking in the London Underground. Each day he sees a hot older man at the tube station but the man never seems too look at him unless to put a pound in his saxophone case. In the days leading up to Christmas his mother and aunts give him a series of bizarre clothing items as early Christmas presents which finally seems to get the man's attention. This was definitely the silliest story out of the anthology with the two main leads almost getting upstaged by Liam's mother and aunts, but it still retained a core of romance as Liam and his 'silver fox' Neil spend a few hours getting to know each other. The London setting with its shift from the tube, to a traditional British pub to an Anglican Church all added to the fun of the story for me and I finished it with a smile on my face.

Often when I read anthologies, I can select a favourite story. Not so with this one because all the stories were equally as entertaining and well written. If you're looking for a set of stories to chase away the cold winter weather then this anthology of contemporary stories will be perfect.. I'm looking forward to more story collections from this new press. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March

2011-12-13T13:43:00.000Z

I’m rather fond of Ava March’s Regency stories, finding them rooted in the time period but not overly stuffed with extraneous historical detail, so I was really pleased to see not only had Carina included a historical story in their m/m Christmas anthology this year, but that it was one by Ava March.

This isn’t a Christmas story per se, although it’s set a few days before Christmas, rather it’s a story of young love, broken hearts and ultimately forgiveness. The story begins as our hero, nineteen year old Alexander, is attending a pre-Christmas ball. He’s there with his best friend from Oxford, Thomas, with whom he’s also in love. In fact, Alexander is so in love he can barely contain himself and seeks every opportunity to get Thomas alone. They make plans to visit Alexander’s father’s hunting lodge in the country but before anything can happen Thomas panics, leaving Alexander heartbroken. Fast forward four years and Thomas is back, newly reconciled to himself and wanting to make it up to Alexander. But the man he finds is so far removed from the sweet young Alexander he knew, that Thomas may never be able to get through to him.

There was much to like about this story, which as you can see from my summary above is almost in two parts. For me the beauty of the story was in the character of Alexander. When we first meet him he is so in love he almost irrepressible. His feelings overflow from him and I found myself warming quickly to him as a person. His love for Thomas makes him daring, leading to some scenes where they run the risk of discovery. It said much about Alexander and how he was so in the throes of young love that he would take risks like that during the time period the story is set. Alexander’s behaviour contrasts with that of Thomas who is a true proper English gent. He’s reserved and quiet, whereas Alexander is chatty. He’s not as grabby or hands on as Alexander and this made me immediately wary of their relationship. We don’t get into Thomas’ head until quite a way through the story but it wasn’t difficult to see that he was struggling a little at how quickly things were moving. I thought the author did a good job of sowing the seeds of doubt in the reader’s mind so that when everything blows up for Alexander, there’s an inevitability about it. That didn’t mean that my heart didn’t break a little for Alexander, because it did, and even more so when we catch up with him four years later.

Having spent so much time in Alexander’s head we then move more in Thomas’ as we see him trying to make amends to Alexander for his past behaviour. If my heart broke a little before it continued to break for the way Alexander had changed. His cynicism and lack of trust was so far removed from the happy, trusting man in the first part of the book. Thomas’ realisation that he had been the cause of the change provides the impetus for all his actions later in the book. What I really liked though, and what made this an excellent read for me, was the way that Alexander doesn’t forgive Thomas, at least not easily. It takes a lot of time and persistence to get through Alexander’s hard shell and the reward was satisfying when it happened. For parts of this second half I read on in dismay at Alexander and his behaviour, but I knew it would be worth it in the end, and it was.

I also liked the change in Thomas, and how his time in the USA had given him to opportunity to break away from the stuffy tradition of the ton and reassess his life. He came back a better person and I found I was able to forgive him easily for his actions earlier in the book. After all they were the realistic reactions of a young and overwhelmed man.

My only niggle with the story was that I wanted to know what happened to the pair in the future, and in particular how they proceed into their HEA. However, this was only a minor point and one which may be addressed by a sequel.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this Regency story. It reminded me of why I love the genre, with some great descriptions of setting, and characters who remained true to the time they live in. Those readers who like historical m/m stories are going to love this one. I did. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Guest Post: Collared: The Story Behind the Story by Kari Gregg

2011-12-12T07:00:00.002Z

Today I'm pleased to introduce Kari Gregg to my blog. She's here as part of the Riptide Publishing blog tour where there are lots of prizes to be won - click here for the prizes. Today Kari is talking about where she got the idea for her recent Riptide release, Collared. Over to you, Kari.

I was raised in central West Virginia and I still go back several times each year to visit my family. Although my parents now live in the next county over (light years and entire universes away from my old stomping grounds), I still run into and hear from/about old friends occasionally. Collared came to be after I bumped into one of those friends. We'll call him Jack. That isn't his real name, but close enough.

Back in high school, Jack was brilliant. He was funny and fun to be around. A much heavier partier than I was (and I was no lightweight). We were bored kids stuck out in the country. We had to drive half an hour to get to a restaurant chain and another hour beyond that to see a movie. Of course, we were going to get into trouble. And Jack was excellent at it. So good, in fact, that (like me) he managed to put his party on and maintain the high GPA that was his ticket out of the county and into civilization.

For Jack, though, the train derailed. Never use something that will end up using YOU, compadres. Jack got a powerful monkey on his back in college, dropped out, blew around the party-fest communes back home and finally settled in a shack deep in the woods -- deep enough to dissuade the cops from looking for his crops, if you see what I'm saying.

So anyway, I run into Jack many years (and several lifetimes later) and he's still the fun guy he always was, but wow, does he have a whole treasure trove of conspiracy theories. Really crazy stuff. I love the guy to death, though, and you know what? He's still brilliant. Nuckin futs, yeah, but brilliant. One of the many theories he'd cooked up was an elaborate scenario in which the government was doping the masses (that'd be you and me, pal) with hormones injected into our meat and bio-engineered crops. Whoa. Awesome.

But it got me to thinking...What if behavior could be modified by altering the food supply? What might that look like? How would we, as a society, respond? I thought about an old grade B horror flick in which animals went super-aggressive for some bizarre reason (scared the shit out of me as a 10yo) so I had an idea for what direction I'd go in (though dominance instead, not aggression of the homicidal bent). Then, weirdly enough, I thought about 911, how the horror and grief of that event provoked us (individually and nationally) to act impulsively and at times irrationally -- sometimes for the good and sometimes for the very, very bad.

From that soup of what if's, Collared was born. Everyone's brain chemistry is changing and that's causing us to act in extreme and (sometimes) irrational ways, both individually (for my characters) and as a nation (the political/legal environment). My heroes struggle with who they were, who they want to be and who they are becoming -- juxtaposed against the setting of a world in flux. Nothing makes sense, not how they feel, not how the new environment is coming into shape...It doesn't work. The world they live, breathe and move in does not work. It needs fixing and so do my characters. They're trying. They're fighting to adapt to the changes, to accept their new normal and to make that new normal better. They make mistakes. We, as a society, make mistakes too. But we never stop fighting to make life better. This is Connor's, Emmett's and David's story -- their struggle to find their balance, each other, and a way to make a world gone mad work.

You can read an excerpt and purchase Collared right here.

Email address: kari@karigregg.com
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Thank you for that interesting insight into how Collared came about, Kari!

Kari has very kindly offered up the choice of one of her backlist books as a prize for those who leave a comment on this post. You have until 11pm on Saturday 17th December and I shall announce the winners on the 18th December. Good luck!

LA Witt Winner

2011-12-11T16:46:00.000Z

Thank you to all of you who left a comment on L.A. Witt's guest post on Monday. If you missed the post and want a chance to read, it's here.

Lori had offered up a copy of a book from her back list as a prize and the winner is...

BOOKWYRM369

Congratulations, bookwyrm369. I've passed your email onto Riptide Publishing and they should be in touch with you shortly.

Even if you haven't won, you still have a chance to win prizes as all the names have gone into the overall draw for the Riptide Launch Party. See here for details of that, and good luck!

Review: The Rifter Part 10: His Holy Bones by Ginn Hale

2011-12-11T16:27:00.001Z

This review can also be found at the DIK blog.

Well here it is, finally, the last part of this tremendous serialised novel, The Rifter. Part ten, as you may imagine, is packed through with action, adventure, love, tragedy, betrayal, ruined hope and ultimately an ending which, although is classed as 'happy' still leaves you with a lot to think about. All whilst drawing together the strands of the story to a cohesive and satisfying conclusion.

Part ten begins where part nine left off. Ravishan is injured, possibly fatally, and John divides his time between wanting to be close to Ravishan, and his duties as the newly revealed Rifter. Some of those duties lie in managing to convince the kahlirash’im, that he is just as much human as he is god whilst also coming to terms with his god-like abilities. Other duties involve repairing the damage that he inflicted on Vundomu as well as dealing practically and emotionally with the knowledge of how many people died when he stormed the tower in order to save Ravishan. This meant that much of the first part of the book is relatively quiet, showing us the healer and nurturer that John will become as he gets older, and how he can use his abilities for good. That doesn't mean there isn't action too, as we find out the circumstances which surround Ravishan's death in a scene I found immensely shocking, and which suddenly made John's initial reaction to the appearance of Kahlil in the future make a lot more sense. We also find out what happened to Laurie in Umbhra’ibaye. One thing I've loved about reading this book as a serial is the way that I suddenly get these 'lightbulb' moments about things that I've puzzled over a bit in previous parts of the book.

The second half of this part then moves forward into the future and picks up where we left Kahlil in part seven. He's been captured by Laurie and is now being held as bait. Kahlil knows that John will come for him and that when John does, Laurie will kill him. Yet he's trapped, unable to move, terribly injured and guarded by Laurie's hungry bones. Rescue is in the form of a complete surprise and I found the remainder of the book a strange mix of heartwarming and heartbreaking. This was especially true for the character of Laurie who I found difficult to figure out in book seven. I couldn't see why she hated John so much, but things become so much clearer here.

Like much of the entire novel, this part focuses on the choices that John makes and the consequences of his actions. John has some difficult choices to make here and has to face the consequences of his past actions. He has strong emotional ties to Laurie, and knows that he has somehow failed her, but he also realises that his reluctance to 'deal' with her in the past has caused the loss of many lives. Even right at the end, when John knows what must be done, he wavers between giving Laurie what she wants and doing what he knows is right. Even I felt some compassion for Laurie at the end, knowing how much she had lost and that it had driven her quite mad. The confrontation between John and Laurie towards the end of this part was filled with much sorrow and recrimination but was also a fitting conclusion to their troubled relationship. It made me quite sad to remember the happy, dippy Laurie from part one and compare her to what she is at the end. Very sad, actually.

John too has come a long way from the College student he was in part one, and even in this last section we are shown how much he has grown, matured and changed in his time in Basawar. I liked that John has learned strict self control, that his impetuous actions in the past have made him more careful and less likely to fly into a destructive temper. The John we see at the end of the book is a true leader, one who looks to others first before his own needs. I liked him a great deal.

Another thing I really liked about this final part was the way that the present and past were resolved. I'm not going to go too much into specifics because that would spoil things, but the loose thread involving Ravishan in the past and Khalil in the future is brought together in a most pleasing way.

I finished this final part feeling a little bereft that it was all over. The book has brought me so much pleasure over the last 10 months that I'm sorry that it couldn't continue on for a few more months more at least! However, all good things come to an end, and this was a marvellous conclusion to what has been a simply stunning piece of fantasy writing. If you haven't started reading this book yet then I urge you to begin now. It's a long book, yes, but it's a wholly rewarding read. It's also not an easy read, and definitely not for those of you who are squeamish because some of the violence in the book is quite graphic. It is a book for those who love dark fantasy and want to read a complex, intricate novel with a huge cast of characters, but which retains at its core a heartfelt romance.

I said in my review of part 1 that I would wait until this last review before I grade the whole book. Really, though, there is no grade that I can put on this because my grading system seems so inadequate. It's definitely worthy of the grade 'Excellent' or even beyond Excellent because I shall be re-reading this many times in the future.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Infected: Freefall by Andrea Speed

2011-12-09T12:29:00.001Z

This fourth book in the Infected series sees things going rapidly downhill for Roan. His addiction to painkillers is consuming his life, he's having trouble controlling his lion and is spiralling further and further into depression. There are two separate mysteries for him to solve too, but whilst these are interesting - one is the discovery of a missing child and the other is the seemingly suspicious death of a local politician - they do take a back seat to the drama in Roan's life. I'm not complaining about this because Roan is a fascinating character. His personal life is at an all time low, as as part of this Roan has increasingly vivid dreams about Paris and also his first lover Connor who committed suicide. This allows at least a little closure for Roan on that aspect of his past as his subconscious forces him to think through his life with Connor. Sometimes dreams in books don't work for me but they did here because I could see why they were being used.

My main niggle with the story is focused on the relationship between Roan and Dylan. I honestly don't think they are very suited to each other and as such in my mind I still see them as a transient couple. Don't get me wrong, I love both characters and I think this is why I get a funny concerned feeling about their relationship. Dylan is just too nice and accepting to be with Roan. He's not strong enough to stand up to Roan and often takes the line of least resistance, putting up with an awful lot of crap from Roan, crap that Paris would never have stood for. Take Roan's addiction for example. Dylan knows about the addiction but refuses to tackle Roan about it, preferring to be a gentle support for Roan instead. In many ways Dylan is part of Roan's problem because he's so concerned about not rocking the boat, he just stands back and lets Roan get worse and worse. Roan needs someone who will kick his arse from time to time, who won't take crap from him and who cares deeply enough to fight Roan for what is best for him. Paris was like that, and Roan needs another Paris, or someone very similar. Dylan may profess to love Roan deeply, but he doesn't love Roan's lion in the same way Paris did. I wonder really whether Roan will ever find someone to love and care for him as deeply as Paris, and that saddens me.

What I did really like though was the way that Holden is becoming more of a main character in these books. I like Holden because although he's a hooker, he's also got a wild intelligence about him. As the book progresses, Holden begins to take on the role of Roan's assistant and even though his approach to things is very different, and more emotional than Roan, I can see that they will work well as a team. There's a lot going on under the surface of Holden, behind the facade he puts on for the world, and I look forward to seeing more of him in future books.

I'm really enjoying this Infected series and was particularly pleased that the editing seemed a little tighter in this book than the previous one. There were no loose ends or inconsistencies, only hard boiled drama with some gripping and realistic action scenes. I love that the action is interspersed with some well written strong characterisation, and was pleased to get into the head of both Dylan and Holden for parts of the book.

As with many of these books we end on a cliffhanger and it's not good news for Roan. He's starting to come to terms with his lion - a theme which stretches through this book in particular - and I am interested to see how their symbiotic relationship withing Roan's body will develop into further books.

If your a fan of this series, then this book is a must. If you haven't started the series yet, then I urge you to start now, even if you just begin at book three for those who are unable to cope with the lack of HEA for Roan and Paris. I really enjoyed Infected: Freefall and would recommend it with a grade of 'Excellent', as a fantastic paranormal story.

Buy this book HERE.

Deck the Halls!

2011-12-06T18:53:00.000Z

Today it's my turn at the Speak Its Name advent calendar where I'm talking about my love for the Christmas historical romance anthologies and bemoaning the fact that there isn't an equivalent m/m version.

Do please pop over and say whether you agree. All comments will be put into a draw to win this lovely Christmas decoration which I picked up on a recent shopping trip to Skipton.

BTW, all the posts in the Advent Calendar are well worth reading and there's some fabulous prizes to win each day too.

See you there!

Guest Post: How on Earth did A Chip In His Shoulder Come to be? by LA Witt

2011-12-05T07:00:00.004Z

Today it's my very great pleasure to introduce LA Witt to my blog. She's here as part of the Riptide Grand Opening Blog Tour Party but I'm also secretly squeeing like a fan girl because I love her books! Today she's talking about her new release A Chip in His Shoulder and telling us where she got the idea for the story. Over to you, Lori!

How on earth did A Chip In His Shoulder come to be?

Like most of my stories, Chip started out as a very vague idea that gradually took form and wandered into a whole different realm from what I originally had in mind. Considering it’s a futuristic cyberpunk story, you might be surprised to learn it began in my head as a medieval fantasy type of setting. The original idea involved Liam, an assassin and vampire, being lured into a chamber of some sort—a room on top of a castle tower or something similar—thinking he was there to kill the person inside it, only to find out a moment too late that he’s trapped. The walls were glass, and when the sun came up, he’d be toast. Considering the person he was there to kill was an ex-lover, I didn’t imagine they’d play very well together, so that would make escaping a little tricky.

The more I tinkered with the idea in my head, the more it seemed to fit a more modern—and ultimately futuristic—setting. As I thought about the chamber or building, and what kind of technology would be required to contain Liam until the sun came up (not to mention how they’d ultimately find a way out), I realized I needed something more advanced than anything my medieval characters seemed to be able to come up with. Super strong glass. Key pads. Insanely intricate security systems.

Then I started pondering the idea of adding a cyberpunk element. Maybe some sort of implant that would put the boys at a disadvantage. Because really, what fun is having cybernetic tech if it only makes things easier? So what if the security system wasn’t in the building, but in Daniel? I mean, he already had a chip on his shoulder, so what if—

Eureka! And that’s where we come to the title: A Chip In His Shoulder. I’m always a fan of puntacular titles anyway, and while I was thinking about a) the relationship between Daniel and Liam, b) residual (mostly bitter) feelings between them, and c) what kind of tech could make their lives more difficult…that title fell into my head. The sequel’s title is promising to be along the same puntabulous line, but probably not quite so groanworthy.

Also, I have to give credit where it’s due: I spent a lot of time discussing the story with one of my editors, Rachel Haimowitz, made a lot of suggestions that altered the course of the story. Daniel’s anti-cybernetic views were her idea. From there, the Gutter/Sky social strata emerged, which fit perfectly with the cyberpunk flavor, since cyberpunk and dystopian society go together like root beer and vanilla ice cream.

Then during editing, she and Aleks Voinov both commented that a particular scene just didn’t quite have the emotional OOMPH it needed. They weren’t convinced that Liam had worked hard enough to gain Daniel’s trust, and Daniel was being a bit of a pushover. In the end, that resulted in somebody wearing an unscheduled bullet hole, which thoroughly pleased Rachel, because she’s sadistic that way.

And in the end, we have A Chip In His Shoulder: a cyberpunk vampire assassin story when I had castles and high fantasy in mind. Go figure, right?

A Chip In His Shoulder, as well as my other work as both L. A. Witt and Lauren Gallagher, can be found at http://www.loriawitt.com I’m also on Twitter as @GallagherWitt, and blog at http://gallagherwitt.blogspot.com

Thanks for that interesting insight into your new book Lori!

Lori has kindly offered up a prize for today's post. Leave a comment between now and 11pm on Saturday 10th December and you'll be put in the draw to win your choice from any of LA Witt's backlist. The winner being announced on the 11th December. Good Luck!.

Winter Warmers Winner

2011-12-04T18:33:00.001Z

Thank you to all of you who left a comment on Clare London's guest post on Monday. If you missed the post and want a chance to read, it's here.

Clare had offered up a copy of Winter Warmers as a prize and the winner is...

BEATRICE

Congratulations, Beatrice. I've passed your email onto Clare and she should be in touch with you shortly.

Saturday Shorts

2011-12-03T09:19:00.000Z

I haven't done one of these in ages, but I've had a couple of review requests for short stories/short novellas so I thought I may as well do them together as a 'shorts' post.

The Tea Demon by Cornelia Grey
This steampunkish fantasy story begins in an electrifying way. Semi-retired professional thief Eric is approached by a stranger in a bar who wants him to steal something for him. After a passionate kiss followed by a bar brawl, Eric accepts and is amazed to discover that he's working for the notorious Tea Demon, scourge of the skies.

This story is a sort of humourous pastiche of pirate/steampunk stories and as such is a little light on some of the details that fans of steampunk usually enjoy. There's enough to set the scene with vertigo inducing towers and platforms and sky ships/boats which defy the laws of gravity but that's it really. I didn't mind this because the fun is more in the relationship between Eric and Jonathan, and in the amusing heist type story where they may not 'blow the bloody doors off' but they are not far off! The romance is a mix of hot and oddly touching with a sweet scene at the end which suggests a HFN rather than hammers it home. There are some amusing secondary characters in Jonathan's crew but background detail on all of the characters is a little sparse and I would have liked to know a little more about Jonathan especially. That wasn't enough to spoil the story for me though, and I can happily recommend The Tea Demon with a grade of 'Very Good' for those looking for a fun steampunkish story.

Buy this book HERE.

Between Hell and El Paso by Derek Adams
Those of you who have read a few Derek Adams' stories will know that he often writes main characters who are, to put it bluntly, as thick as two short planks. In the case of this book the academically challenged hero is Trinity who, after he is seduced by his boss, is run out of town. He arrives in the city and is taken under the wing of a group of go go dancers at a gay bar. One of the dancers has tickets to the rodeo and it is here that Trinity meets Charlie, a gorgeous rodeo star.

Despite the fact that Trinity isn't too bright, I rather liked him. He's very naive, almost to an extreme, but I didn't mind that so much and found the whole situation rather amusing. The author plays on Trinity's innocence to the extent that his naivety causes good things to happen to him, and so he finds himself in all sorts of situations where he bumbles along, trying to please and doing very well out of it. For example, landing in a strange city and just happening to stand outside a gay bar to get his bearings whereupon he's discovered by one of the gogo dancers and gets an instant job. This is part of the humour of the story, I think. It's not meant to be realistic so of course nothing too bad happens to Trinity and everything is wrapped up with a solid HEA at the end. Actually for me this was the part that let the story down a little. Trinity and Charlie have a big old 'together forever' moment at the end of the story but they've only known each other for two days, and most of that time is spent apart. However, this is a particular bug bear of mine and may not put some readers off.

Many of the stories from this author have raunchy, dirty sex scenes, and there was a little bit of that here, but mostly the story is rather sweet and romantic. I would have liked more of Charlie and Trinity together to be secure in the HEA which is imposed on us but this was still a pretty good read with a nice blend of humour, action and sex. If you like innocent heroes who get into scrapes because of their general cluelessness then you will enjoy this one. Grade: Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Review: Grown Men by Damon Suede

2011-12-02T07:00:00.002Z

Before I read this book I read the freebie short Seedy Business which is a prequel to this story. I'm glad I did because it gave me a lot of much needed information about the character of Ox. If I hadn't read Seedy Business then I think I would have found this story a whole lot more frustrating than I did.

Grown Men is a futuristic sci fi story set on a far away planet. It tells of Runt who's a farmer/pioneer on the planet having been placed there by the intergalactic company HardCell. His job is to make his little patch of newly terraformed land into a profitable farm to make money for HardCell. He's finding it tough though because he's only a little guy and his clone wife, who was supposed to be his support and co-farmer died in transit. As the story begins, Runt is pleased when a cargo crate is sent by HardCell packed with things to make his life easier, and to help with some of the repairs he needs to make. Also in the crate is a man, Ox, who is a genetically bred mute giant. At first Runt is afraid of Ox, but over time they become friends and helpmates.

I have to admit I had mixed views about this story, although, there was much to like, especially for those who are fans of science fiction/futuristic stories. It was obvious that the author had thought carefully about the world building and the setting. Runt and Ox's life as farmers is described in quite a lot of detail and added greatly to the solid and realistic feel of the book. The down side to this though was that some of the book was a little dull because the focus was so much on the various tasks the men perform. The story is only just over 100 pages long, but it felt much longer to me because the pace drags a little at times.

I also liked the relationship that develops between Ox and Runt. When Ox first appears, in a scene where he is almost 'reborn' to this new world, Runt's initial fear and wariness was well depicted. The story is set entirely from Runt's point of view which enables the reader to follow his changing feelings as the book progresses. This change is very slow, and whilst this was realistic, it meant that actually the main thrust of the romance doesn't happen until almost at the end of the book. Until then the men have a platonic relationship, despite Runt's attraction. I'm in two minds about this really. On one hand to have rushed the relationship would have damaged the realism of the story and would have been entirely out of character for Runt who sees himself as only straight at first. On the other hand, I felt that, after waiting so long for it to happen, the end was a little too quick and I would have liked to have seen more of the budding romance between the men rather than just their friendship.

The story does rather hinge on whether you like Runt or not, given that you spend so much time in his head. I did like him. He's a feisty, prickly guy who has done well to survive so far. His bitterness could be a turn off for some readers, but I felt that Ox made him a better person. One of my favourite scenes in the book is when the two men are talking on the beach and Runt feels so happy and contented that he doesn't want to go back inside. To me this was a pivotal shift in his character and showed a cleverness on the part of the author.

One final point is that I finished the book knowing next to nothing about Ox. Most of what I know about him was found out in the prequel story. I get the feeling this is to be a series - at least I hope so because the end sort of leaves you hanging with a number of unanswered questions. In which case I shall wait for the next part to see what we learn of the enigmatic Ox.

Overall, this was decently written book but not without its flaws. The characters were unusual and I would recommend it to those who are looking for a science fiction fantasy book. I would certainly recommend that you read Seedy Business first though. Grade: Good.

Buy this book HERE

A Blogiversary and an Advent Calendar

2011-12-01T14:34:00.000Z

Today, over at Brief Encounters Reviews we are celebrating our one year blogiversary. I can't quite believe that Tam and I have been at it for an entire year, but it's true! Pop over and read a couple of posts on our thoughts about the year, the future and some very strange statistics!

And in other news, today marks the beginning of the Speak Its Name Advent Calendar. For those who don't know, Speak Its Name is a review site for gay historical fiction run by the delightful Erastes and her team of dedicated reviewers. Each year they have a month's worth of posts in December with lots of opportunities for prizes and giveaway. I've somehow managed to blag my way into the Advent calendar this year but you'll have to keep coming back each day to find my post :). Don't worry though they are all worth reading so I'll see you over there sometime in December!

Review: The Second Door by TC Blue

2011-11-30T18:43:00.000Z

Sam and Mitch have been friends ever since Sam moved into Mitch's apartment block. Over that time they have grown close and have helped each other through some difficult times. Sam has been in love with Mitch for a while now, but has always set it aside, knowing that he's not Mitch's type, but things come to a head after Sam comforts Mitch through a bad break up. When it seems that they may be on the verge of a relationship, Sam panics because he doesn't want to lose the best friend he ever had.

I was really in the mood for this book which turned out to be a pleasant and engaging friends to lovers romance. The characters of Sam and Mitch are very much 'nice guys' as such there wasn't anything particularly unique or unusual about them, and they came across as a little bland at times. That doesn't mean to say I couldn't sympathise with their situation. I did. I like a good friends to lovers romance and one of my bug bears is when authors don't take the time to show the catalyst for the change in feeling. There must be something which initiates the change from a person seeing someone as just as friend to desire and love for them. In the case of this book I thought that TC Blue had done a good job in showing how Sam's contained love for Mitch suddenly deepens into much more, and how that then begins to affect how Mitch views Sam.

Once things are sort of out in the open the story then goes backwards and forwards as the two friends fight their attraction whilst trying to be sensible about it. This could have been a little annoying but the balance was right between the good reasons for them not entering a relationship and their growing feelings for each other. TC Blue always has an engaging narrative style and this was the case here too. We get lots of opportunity to be in the heads of both characters and to learn what each other is thinking and as such I felt happy with the way the story progresses. There's also a light humourous touch to the story in the writing which meant that it didn't get bogged down in the heavier themes but still handled them in a sensitive fashion.

One aspect I felt was handled well was the way that past experience affects the present actions of the men. Sam's abusive ex may never feature bodily in the story but his spectre hangs over Sam, dictating his actions and making him wary of commitment, especially if that commitment means he's possibly losing a best friend in the future. Mitch has been hurt in the past too, but he uses that as a springboard to go after what he wants and I liked the way he manipulated the circumstances in order to get his own way.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The characters may not have been wholly unique but there was enough about them to make them sympathetic. The pace was measured but not too slow and the writing good. I would recommend The Second Door, with a grade of 'Very Good', to those looking for a nice romance between two great guys.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Junction X by Erastes

2011-11-29T19:54:00.001Z

Junction X is not a romance rather it's a drama centred around a gay romance, or perhaps even an obsession. It's a perfectly nuanced morality tale with a central character who tied me up in knots and made me experience such a wealth of emotion that it will be difficult to put down in words all my feelings for him.

The story is taken from the first person point of view of Ed, who is a British middle class man in his thirties, and set in the early 1960s. He has a nice home; a good job; a reasonably good, if a little dull, relationship with his attractive wife and children; and a sort of 'friends with benefits' arrangement with his good friend and former neighbour, Phil. All that changes when Ed falls in love with the teenage son of his new neighbours and he and Alex begin an illicit affair.

I read the first half of this book pretty quickly, caught up in the character of Ed, who I really liked. His naivety was strangely endearing and I sympathised with the prickly relationship he has with his wife (they reminded me a little of Jerry and Margot from The Good Life), and the even more confusing relationship he has with Phil. It seemed quite cut and dried to me that Phil was taking advantage of Ed, that he was his friend only because of what Ed could do for him, or to him. One of the things I most admired about this story was the way that Phil turned out to be something rather unexpected in his friendship with Ed, and that all my preconceptions about him proved to be wrong, or misguided anyway. Ed bumbles along in this first part, allowing life to happen to him, cocooned in his middle class world which dampens all his emotions. He's a good man whose respectability is important to him but who isn't ambitious or forward thinking. A lot of time is spent during this first part in allowing the reader to get a good feel for Ed and his life as it stands. It wasn't dull by any means but I was a little puzzled at first as to when the romance aspect would begin. Later though, I realised why it was so important to see Ed and his comfortable life in this way. It lays down the foundations for the second half of the book, where circumstances and Ed's actions rocks his careful world and things change for him dramatically.

The romance between Ed and Alex left me feeling uncomfortable, and I think was a deliberate part of the book. We're not meant to wholly happy with the situation. On one hand I could understand the passions of both men (although in the 1960's, 18 year old Alex was still classed as a child), and yet there was always a constant niggle that Ed held all the cards. He obviously loves Alex, and the passages where Ed tries to explain his feelings for Alex were convincing and quite tender in their description. However, a few times suddenly I found myself trying to see things from Alex's point of view, the hero worship; the fierce love of a teenager; and the excitement of a secret affair mingled with the difficulties of hiding his love and the jealousy of being 'the other man'. There's no doubt in my mind that Ed should have been more responsible, more perceptive. He wasn't though, and that's ultimately where the tragedy lies in this story.

This second half of the book was a little difficult for me. Not because it was badly written, if anything Erastes' lyrical prose and stark characterisation remained compelling, but rather because I knew where the story was heading. I read it in chunks of about 30 pages at a time, before putting the book down as I mulled over what was happening and my changing feelings towards Ed. His naivety, which was so endearing earlier in the book now became a source of frustration for me, as did his inability to think through his actions or his words before he speaks. True to character, Ed holds out on his feelings until he is forced to face them, and then his weakness allows things to get out of control. His decline from a morally upright person into a selfish, lying cheat is so gradual that I was almost at the end of the book before I realised how he'd changed. As a study in how much infidelity rips your life to shreds this was extremely well done. The fall out, when it happens, was swift, over in a matter of a few pages leaving me strangely numb. Only after an hour or so after I finished reading the book did the emotions come as I mentally raged at Ed for his foolishness, his inability to understand the feelings of others and his sheer stupidity in the way he handled things. Most of all I felt sorrow for what had happened, for the lives ruined. There aren't many authors who can leave me so worked up about a character or a situation and it's proof of how intense and powerful the writing is in this book that I was so emotionally connected to a work of fiction.

Junction X isn't an easy read. It's not light and fluffy. There are no clear cut characters or situations - rather the complexity of the characterisation was breathtaking. Instead it's a study of how love can lead to ruin; how taking what you want may not always be the best course; how the perfect life can be anything but. It's a beautifully written and vivid portrayal of a man's downfall. It may not have brought me to tears at the end, but it's a book which will stay with me for a very long time. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Guest Post: Winter Warmers by Clare London

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000Z

Today my guest is the lovely Clare London who has joined together with four other of my favourite authors to produce an anthology of winter themed stories to warm the cockles of your heart. She's here to tell us a little bit about the inspiration for the stories and give you a sneak peek into her own story, Lucky Dip.

Over to you, Clare!

I’m sitting at the window watching the grey sky of winter, hugging a mug of coffee, with my feet buried deep into furry slippers … yes, winter’s arrived! And wouldn’t it be great to lose myself in a book that’s a true antidote to the colder, darker season? That’s what prompted a group of authors including me, Josephine Myles, Chrissy Munder, JL Merrow and Lou Harper to create an anthology of seasonal stories.

The anthology has five delightful and diverse tales, like the mixed fruit and spices in a Christmas cake. There are stories set in Britain and the USA, there’s sexiness and sensuality, humour and poignancy, romance, daily routine, and a little twist of magic. And all of them are unashamedly hopeful and heart-warming.

My story Lucky Dip is based on my experience of a primary school Christmas Fair, the annual fundraising event where parents and teachers work devotedly with paper and paint to make the school hall look enchanting, and fill the stalls with crafts, Christmas tree decorations and endless jars of chutney. Then on the day, Christmas carols are piped loudly through the school P.A. system, the children dash about begging for multiple turns at the guessing games and Lucky Dip, the parents buy armfuls of Christmas gifts, and everyone can enjoy plentiful mine pies and mulled wine.

And that’s where we meet my characters, preparing for the Fair the following day. Andy is a relatively new teacher, full of enthusiasm and determination, which may or may not be up to the challenge of his lively class 2C. Then he finds he’s got to work alongside Greg, the man who dumped him a couple of months ago, and the stress starts building. Add in a few bottles of mulled wine when the two men find themselves inextricably forced into close quarters… and who knows what Christmas will bring for them?

We hope you enjoy the anthology, and agree that a heart-warming story is great at any time of year. As we say, “Winter Warmers” isn’t just for Christmas!

BLURB

Baby, it's cold outside! Beat the chill with WINTER WARMERS - a seasonal anthology

Mulled wine. Butterscotch kisses. Hideous sweaters. Candy at the beach, or a trip to a sex shop in Amsterdam. And the man of your dreams, wrapped around you...

Winter warmers come in many shapes and sizes, from the tongue-in-cheek to the hot-as-hell. Enjoy a quintet of heart-warming tales of men loving men from Clare London, Chrissy Munder, JL Merrow, Josephine Myles, and Lou Harper that are guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face.

One thing's for sure—it's going to be a red-hot Christmas!

Lucky Dip by Clare London
Andy Jackson always knew that class 2C's help in preparing for the annual Christmas Fair would be a mixed blessing. Then he's paired up on the Lucky Dip with Greg, the man who dumped him but now can't keep away, the pupils are either lecturing him on his lovelife or losing bladder control, and no one's fixed the broken handle on the storage room. It may all be one whoopee cushion too far for him.

Butterscotch Kisses by Chrissy Munder
Matthew Morrison is determined to conquer his fear of heights and achieve a winning outcome. At least, that's what the best-selling, self-help book he's listening to promises. Being stuck on a three-story tower in the middle of a snowstorm wasn't part of the plan. With no St. Bernard in sight, it's Cute Ticket Guy Adam to the rescue, and an outcome Matthew never anticipated.

Wintertide by Lou Harper
May meets December when Jem and Oscar chance on each other at the Santa Monica Pier, only weeks before Christmas. The two men are separated by age, social status, and their taste in candy, yet if they are both naughty and nice, they might just find holiday cheer together.

When in Amsterdam... by Josephine Myles
Brandon is on his first visit to new boyfriend Jos's home country, just in time for their Sinterklaas celebrations. But an unexpected detour into a sex shop leads Brandon to new discoveries about himself, and a whole new dynamic to their relationship. The weather may be cold and damp, but Brandon and Jos soon heat things up!

A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou by JL Merrow
What's the best gift a young man could get for Christmas? Mohawked saxophonist Liam wouldn't have picked the hideous collection of knitwear he's presented with by his mum and his aunties. He'd rather have the gorgeous older man he sees every day while busking at King's Cross. But with a little Christmas magic in the air, maybe those garish garments are just the thing for attracting a silver fox...

EXCERPT FROM LUCKY DIP BY CLARE LONDON

I glanced over at the rather chaotic mess on our too-small table and wondered if it’d be ready in time, let alone compare to my ambitious plans on paper.

Over at the Lucky Dip, Greg seemed to be struggling as well. He had a small group of helpers who were meant to be sorting and wrapping the gifts, then filling the barrel with wood shavings. They were a couple of years older than my team, but their attention was already waning: being let off lessons was all very well, but only if they could spend the time on their Gameboys. Greg held a large sheet of paper which looked like a checklist, but as his team’s chatter grew louder and more restless, his expression looked more frustrated than festive.

“Mr Canbury needs help,” Amy said, rather unnecessarily, I thought.

“He can manage just fine.” Had I sounded too sharp? Amy peered up at me, nose wrinkling in that way she had. “Okay.” I sighed. “I’ll go and see if I can help. If you’re sure I can leave the stall for a moment…”

“Poppy poked Eddy in the knee with a chopstick. He’s paying attention now.”

I rolled my eyes and made my way to the Lucky Dip barrel.

“Andy,” Greg said, breaking into a smile.

My heartbeat really shouldn’t have quickened at that, but it’d been a while since anyone except my mother had smiled at the mere sight of me. “Do you need me for anything?”

He hesitated, for the slightest fraction of time. His gaze flickered down my body then back up. He blushed, and I think I may have, too.

“Yes,” Charlie from 4B announced loudly, standing at Greg’s heel. “We’ve lost our balls.”

I blinked, and for a moment I thought I heard Tommy’s giggle behind me. No, it couldn't be. I'd left him behind at the stall, untangling the twine we were using as spaghetti, in the hope of keeping him – and his lack of bladder control – out of mischief.

Greg cleared his throat but there was no mistaking the smirk on his lips. Or the way he quickly licked them, the moisture glistening under the hall lights.

I cleared my throat, too. “Problem with deliveries? There are a few parcels in the Parents’ Association room that haven’t been claimed yet.”

Greg nodded and smiled. “We’re missing the Glitter Jet Balls. Also…” He glanced down at the paper in his hand. “The Santa Whoopee Cushions.”

This time, I was sure I heard Tommy’s gasp of excitement in the background. I nodded to Greg and said, “I’ll go and see what we have in there.”

“Wait, I can help you.” Greg took a step so he was toe to toe with me. I could feel the heat from his body. We were all pretty sweaty from working all morning, but he smelled very good. Must have been the expensive aftershave. He took my arm and drew me away from the barrel. “Maybe we could find a quiet moment to talk. Andy, please…”

“I’ll help Mr Canbury,” Charlie announced.

“Me, too!” came the chorus from a group of boys behind him. They all appeared to have a similar disrespect for any job that entailed nothing more interesting than wrapping odd-shaped novelties in snowflake paper for hours on end.

“No thanks. None of you children is allowed in that room, remember?” I tried not to snap, but I didn’t seem to be able to think calmly with Greg’s hand on my arm. “Besides, Mr Canbury needs help here.”

Another, smaller figure pushed its way behind the Lucky Dip barrel, too quickly for me to see who it was, but a shiver of premonition ran down my spine. I pushed closer to Greg to try and see better. Our hips brushed, and he caught his breath. His fingers tightened on my wrist.

“Andy…?”

“Tommy!” I shouted.

I was never going to be in time: I just couldn’t move as fast as a toddler bent on release. All the other boys spun around, following my horrified gaze. Greg gave me a single, startled look then turned in one fluid move that showed how quickly he’d grasped the situation. What he actually grasped was a bucket, at the same time as reaching for a small, irrepressibly giggling boy who’d launched himself off a chair, on to the relatively soft landing in the top of the barrel, and had started to pull down his shorts.

None of us was ever going to be in time.

Thank you, Clare, for stopping by to tell us all about Winter Warmers. If this post has whetted your appetite then you are in luck because Winter Warmers is out TODAY at Pink Squirrel Press. Click HERE to go to the publisher site where there will be a handy buy link.

And that is not all! Leave a comment on the post today and you'll be put into a draw to win a free download of Winter Warmers. Good luck!

Hot Head Winner

2011-11-27T14:46:00.002Z

Thank you to all of you who left a comment on Damon Suede's guest post on Monday. If you missed the post and want a chance to read, it's here.

Damon had offered up a copy of Hot Head as a prize and the winner is...

TRACY

Congratulations, Tracy. I've passed your email onto Riptide Publishing and they should be in touch with you shortly.

Even if you haven't won, you still have a chance to win prizes as all the names have gone into the overall draw for the Riptide Launch Party. See here for details of that, and good luck!

Review: Once a Marine by Cat Grant

2011-11-25T14:08:00.000Z

This is the first of the longer books that I've read from the newly formed Riptide Publishing and it's a decent one to begin with. I generally like Cat Grant's books, finding her smooth writing easy to read, and her characters are generally likeable. That was certainly the case with this book.

The story follows gay romance writer Marc who divides his time writing and working in a diner to make ends meet. He's at the diner when Mr Hot enters in the form of ex-marine, Cole, who has been dishonourably discharged under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. When Cole leaves his phone at the diner, Marc drops it off for him and they hit it off fine, until Cole gets cold feet and kicks Marc out. Marc is furious and hurt, mainly because he's been hurt by a Marine before, but when Cole comes apologising the pair decide to give it a go.

If I can think of a word to describe this book it's mellow. There's a little bit of angst in the story with Cole suffering from PTSD, and Marc having a past of rejection to get over, but these problems are not overplayed with a heavy hand. Instead the story follows them through a series of ups and downs as the two men try and find a fit with each other. Some readers may get a little frustrated with this as the story could come across as being too pat and perhaps insulting to the issues which are raised in the book. I didn't see it like that though, as there's enough time devoted to looking at PTSD or DADT from Cole's perspective, and those issues are not wholly resolved by the end, as would be expected.

My favourite character was Marc who's fairly upbeat and forgiving. He's perfect for Cole in that he understands the problems Cole is facing and is willing to work round him as much as possible whilst keeping his self-respect. The sly nods to m/m romance made me smile and I liked the references to how Marc fits the writing in with his life. I didn't like Cole as much, but then I'm never really fond of the sort of character he is. He's too prickly for my liking and also at times very selfish. I understood that he'd had a bit of a hard time adjusting to life outside the military, and also that his father's rejection had hit him badly, but that didn't excuse some of his behaviour towards Marc where he seemed to expect him to be on hand whenever Cole wanted and to get lost when he didn't. However, Cole did redeem himself by the end and I was happy for the pair to go into their HEA together.

Overall, I think it helped that I was in the mood for this read. I needed something light and entertaining but with a touch of drama. That's certainly what I got with this book and that, coupled with a sympathetic hero in Marc, means that I'm happy to give this book a grade of 'Very Good'. Those readers looking for something quick and undemanding with a healthy romantic core should pick this book up. I enjoyed it.

Buy this book HERE.

Happy Un-Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T12:48:00.000Z

My cat, George, does this. He sits on the table near to meal times in the vain hope we might not notice him and then he can eat from our plates like the frog prince. It hasn't worked so far!

I did a post like this a couple of years ago, and I thought I'd resurrect the idea.

Whist my US friends tuck into their turkey and pumpkin pie, the rest of the world (except Canada which has a Thanksgiving too, just on a different date) look on, bewildered at a tradition we do not share. So in celebration of the fact that this is NOT Thanksgiving day for me, here's a list of things I am not thankful for today.

1. The hurt that's been caused in and around the m/m community in the last few weeks.

2. The fact that I didn't get to go to Gay Rom Lit and probably won't get to go next year either.

3. That a dear 80 year old lady from my Church has been diagnosed with bowel cancer and the doctors are messing her around whilst they discuss how to treat her. Why this takes over three weeks is anyone's guess.

4. My youngest daughter practicing endless Christmas carols on the fife, over and over again. If I have to hear Away in a Manger again I may scream.

5. That I've gained 24 pounds this year. Why do I seem completely unable to keep off any weight that I lose? Why am I so weak? Sometimes I despise myself.

6. When my cat wakes me up at 5am every morning by sitting on my head and purring loudly whilst digging his claws into my neck. If I shut the bedroom door he either miaows loudly and wakes up the whole house or he goes and sits on the kids instead and wakes them up. *sigh*

7. Novels which have sneakily been divided up into chunks and passed off as short stories - and I'm not talking about upfront serial novels like The Rifter - thus meaning that readers part with three times the amount of money a novel will sell for.

8. Bits of Lego all over the floor of my living room.

9. The endless foggy weather we've been having recently which has made driving down some of the high up country lanes near me a complete nightmare.

10. That my youngest son (aged 8) is turning into Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Today he cornered me over breakfast and proceeded to tell me all about his ideas to create robots who can spread a virus to other robots. I hadn't even had my first cup of the tea at that point and so wasn't able to form coherent thought yet.

However, what I AM thankful for is my good health, my family, friends and all of you my internet buddies!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and feel free to chip in with anything you are NOT thankful for today :).

Review: Slave Master's Choice by Kimberly Gardner

2011-11-23T13:52:00.000Z

Slave Master's Choice begins with the character of Alejandro waking up injured in a strange house. He's the only survivor of an attack on his group of soldiers who were on a scouting mission in a neighbouring country to his own. Once just about recovered he sets off to the nearest city, hoping to find a way of getting back to his own country. However, things do not go to plan with Alejandro is captured and placed into slavery. His good looks count in his favour as he is sent to be a sexual slave in the King's household where he meets the slave master, Kedmund.

Those of you who have seen this book is a master/slave romance and have been put off by that idea, then don't be. The slavery theme is present in the book but it's also very mild, almost sanitised with many scenes happening 'off page'. In fact this was a bit of a criticism of the book, in my opinion, as I felt a little cheated out of reading the emotions around being forced into sexual servitude. Alejandro's first and subsequent times in the King's bed are all told to us second hand. In some ways I can understand that - some readers do not like any on page sex between characters other than the romantic pairing - but it did mean that the reader ends up getting told a lot of Alejandro's experience as a slave either through Alejandro's thoughts or through the observations of Kedmund, rather than experiencing it along with him.

Another reason not to be out off is that, given the subject matter, this isn't actually that heavy a read. There's some angst, but it's not as a result of the situation that Alejandro finds himself in. In fact he rather likes being the sexual favourite of the king because homosexuality is not tolerated in his own country. To me this seemed a little far fetched, especially when at the beginning Alejandro wants to return home, but suddenly seems to forget all about it and chooses life at the palace instead. It was little inconsistencies such as these which meant that I didn't empathise as well with Alejandro as I might have done if he'd remained the tough soldier-like man he is at the start.

I did, however, like Kedmund a great deal. He's an older man (although we are never told exactly how old) who was the previous king's favourite bed-slave and as such gained an important place in the household after the previous king's death. One thing I thought was explored well was Kedmund's tenuous authority within the palace and in particular how his status as a former slave makes him despised by some. I thought the fantasy world building surrounding the slaves and how they are integrated into life with the free people was well thought out and Kedmund's role where he straddles the line between free and slave makes him an interesting character. I also really liked his relationship with Pelli, the young man who works with the slaves, towards whom he has a father-figure type of role. This again made Kedmund a very sympathetic character in my eyes.

A final niggle was that the end of the book was a little jumbled and confused, with many characters acting rather irrationally with no real reasons given for their behaviour. In particular I was a little disgruntled that the villain of the story didn't get any comeuppance as I was waiting eagerly for his downfall, which unfortunately never came. The story does end on a HFN which suggests there may be a sequel in the works. In which case I'm hoping for a better showdown and defeat of the bad guy!

Overall, I had mixed feelings about this book. It was a really easy read with a fast pace and writing that flowed. Despite the theme, the story was fairly upbeat for most of the time, and the sexual tension between the characters worked in the story's favour. However, the fact that we get a lot of Alejandro's experiences second hand, and also some of the inconsistencies with his characterisation meant that it was a book I enjoyed but which didn't stand out from the crowd. If you like slave/master romances then you may well like this one, although it's very tame. If you don't like the more hardcore slave/master books but are interested in the fantasy theme, then this is a book you may well enjoy. Grade: Good.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Basic Training by Marquesate

2011-11-22T14:00:00.000Z

It's been two years since the release of the rather excellent Her Majesty's Men, the last book by this author, but I was so impressed by that book that I've hung in there waiting for a new book to be published. Basic Training is that book, and in my opinion the two years have been worth the wait, especially as this book shows some increased maturity in the style of writing from this author.

Basic Training follows Col who is a platoon sergeant in the Royal Marines, in charge of new recuits as they face the 32 weeks of basic training. At the beginning of the book we meet him at a bit of a bad place. He's recently divorced and, after a drunk driving incident, recently demoted. Whilst he loves his job and feels pride in his ability to turn a rag-tag group of men into a fit fighting force, his private life is crashing around his ears with the knowledge that his failed marriage is likely to do with his disinterest in women. As the story begins, Col's about to begin with a new platoon of trainees. One of them, Christian (or Chris) has openly stated on his paperwork that he is gay. This opens up a whole can of worms for Col as he seeks both to keep an eye out for Chris as well as fight his attraction to the man. The book then takes us on a slow journey, spanning several years, where Col and Chris meet, start a relationship and then have that relationship develop over time.

There were two things in particular that struck me about the story, and which added greatly to my enjoyment of the book as a whole. Firstly, I enjoyed following the unfolding of the relationship between the two men, especially in Col's emotional journey towrads accepting his homosexuality. Those of you who may have read Marquesate's other books will know that her men are rough and tough; find it difficult to express emotion; and engage in almost brutal sex with each other. Whilst the first two are certainly the case here, the third element was very much toned down from previous books. Col's one of these men who prefers not to think about emotional mushy stuff, and definitely feels uncomfortable talking about his feelings. As a result he tends to adopt the 'think about it later' way of facing up to things which concern him, such as his changing views on his own sexuality. I loved the gradual way that Col deals with these difficult for him issues, and especially the small steps towards accepting himself. Some of my favourite scenes in the book were when Col really thought through his jumbled emotions, or when he bit the bullet and spoke to others. However, when in private with Chris, he does let his guard down and the sex between them was quite beautifully tender in places, whilst also containing some of the roughness that this author is known for. They matched so well as a couple, both of them riddled with their own insecurities and hang-ups whilst providing a solid support to the other. It was more than love or romance, it was friendship, comradeship and a solid foundation for a life long relationship and I loved reading about it.

The second aspect which I really liked about this book was the way that the life of a Royal Marine was so ingrained through every thought and action of both the main characters. There's enough detail given to understand the life of a soldier - both during the basic training and then on into a career in the Royal Marines - but not so much that I felt overwhelmed by knowledge that wasn't important to the story. The two heroes are at opposite ends of their careers - Chris is just starting out in the RM and Col, at 35, is nearing retirement - and I liked the way that Col acts as a guide for Chris, whilst having to make some difficult choices about his own future. At the beginning of the story much is made of Chris' struggles for acceptance as a gay man in the RM and this is contrasted with the closeted Col, whose struggles are more internal than those of Chris. As the story progresses the military theme develops to focus on the difficulties of an overseas tour for both the one away and the one left behind. By the end of the book I felt I had gained a really good understanding of life in the military from both the enlisted and the partner of the enlisted. It made me think a little, without ever feeling that I'd been preached to, whilst also providing an extremely entertaining and engrossing story.

I have very few niggles about the story except that maybe the pacing began to drag a little in the last 50 or so pages, but not so much that I wanted to stop reading. A second niggle is that, even though we spend nearly the whole book in Col's head, we never find out much about his past, except that he had a 'bitch ex-wife' and had served several dangerous tours in his military career. In fact we find out much more about Chris, than we do Col. I suppose though that this was because Col is private and unassuming, saving his boasting for when he needs to show that as 'Bulldog' he's fitter and stronger than the recruits he whips into shape. It's a curious contrast, but is also what makes Col such a great character.

This has to be the most romantic story I've read by this author so far. It never gets anywhere near sweet, but I loved the playful banter between Col and Chris. They resolve their problems by talking to each other and also through a careful consideration of the feelings of the other person, without rancour and bitterness because they understand each other's situation. I don't think I've read such a delightful and well matched couple in ages.

Overall, I can highly recommend Basic Training with a grade of 'Excellent'. If you like military themed stories and want to read a book with a pair of complex heroes who are drawn to, and complete, each other, then I suggest this book is for you. I only hope it's not another two years until the next Marquesate book!

Buy this book HERE.

Guest Post: Screw Up by Damon Suede

2011-11-21T07:00:00.016Z

I'm pleased to introduce the wildly popular and delightful Damon Suede to my blog today. He's here as part of the Riptide Publishing Grand Opening Blog Tour which involves many, many blogs and the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes - go HERE to find out more about where you can find other posts in the tour and what you can possibly win if you leave a comment here today.

I'll stop blathering now and pass you over to Damon who's posting about those times in life when we mess up.

Screw Up

Picasso once said that Art is never finished, merely abandoned.

How does anyone know when a piece of work is complete? That’s a hard call and the urge to “improve” a maddening itch. Nothing is never perfect. Every experience teaches us something and each piece of writing reflects its original context. I am not the writer I was last month, let alone last year, or the last decade. I often find myself looking at projects that have been printed and out in the world for YEARS and still wanting to twiddle and fiddle…against my will and better judgment, I spot mistakes and better word choices and things I could do better NOW than I did when I wrote the damn thing. Tough shit: the only thing that can get better is me and my writing.

Life continues. Art emerges. Writers grow. Fixations fix nothing.

Knowing how to turn the page is a vital skill for any storyteller. Dwelling on imperfections can paralyze us, and cripple the Muse, keeping us from moving forward. There is no way to edit without stopping to reflect, but there is no way to write backwards. And so writers run the risk of driving with their feet on the brake and the gas simultaneously. If we want to survive and thrive as creative professionals, we must walk a scalpel’s edge between the urge to look back and need to move on. Writing and editing are completely different actions and we mix them to our peril (and paralysis). Run fast. Stand still.

Here’s a secret: each new project teaches us how to solve the problems we built into the last one. Once you’ve spent a whole book struggling with murky plotting or vague objectives, those things elicit different care and attention the next go-round. If you saddle yourself with bland characters or minimal friction, you’ll damn well learn that lesson eventually or suffer the consequences. So you might as well learn to love your screw ups! The bigger and dumber the better!

Mistakes are how we learn.

Even if you believe something to be a complete failure, even if it IS truly a failure, the experience of creating it taught you something. And between thee and me, complete failure is rarer than rocking-horse shit. All too easy to obsess about the stuff we botched without noticing that by botching it, we learned how NOT to botch the same things next time. In the next project, complexity and leaps that seemed impossible before suddenly snap –click– into place effortlessly, as if we needed to fall down in order to learn how to walk.

Oh, wait….we do. :)

So fall down a LOT, fall down as often as you’re able. Crawl, walk, run, wreck yourself…rinse/repeat. Take big risks and never stop pushing at your own margins. If you never let yourself wipe out you’re never going to get off the ground. If you’re already waist-deep in your next project when you’re editing your last, you afford yourself the catch and fix a lot of foolishness you hadn’t noticed in the zone. That’s one of the best arguments for NEVER slacking off creatively. If you keep getting better you can might even be able to rewrite the past a little.

So buckle down and screw up.

You might just drag your creative output to the next level, but you MUST walk away sometimes. All blocks are self-created. The only way you can keep yourself from learning to walk is by sitting on your ass, playing in your poo. If you get tangled in all the impossible, sloppy, silly things you did you’ll never go off and learn how to fix them by starting a new project that builds on what you learned. Too often, young writers squat in a single project fussing and twiddling in a futile attempt to “perfect” it, which makes as much sense as keeping a baby in diapers until it’s a “perfect” infant. No such critter, my friends. The flaws of a creation are part of its magic, and anyone who believes in literal, material perfection spends much more time mired in disappointment than accepting joy.

Don’t postpone joy! As my mother used to say, there is no one so stupid that you cannot learn something from them. To that I’ll add, there is no disaster so great it cannot teach you something. Try to see the wisdom in your dumbest choices. Amaze yourself and you might amaze everyone else. Give yourself permission to risk everything or you will accomplish nothing. Fall down. Stand up.

And write forward.

Note: Damon Suede’s book Hot Head is currently in the semifinals for Best Romance of 2011 over at Goodreads. It is the only M/M novel so nominated and is up against titles by Nora Roberts, J.R. Ward, Nalini Singh, and Gena Showalter. If you’d like to see a gay romance claim that spot please take a moment to give it your vote.

Books:

Hot Head available from Dreamspinner Press
Grown Men available from Riptide Publishing

Bio:
Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon as it was legal. Though new to M/M, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year. Get in touch with him at:

Thanks to Damon for a very inspiring post! Not only can you have a chance of winning in the Riptide Blog Tour but Damon has also graciously offered a copy of Hot Head to a lucky winner who leaves a comment on this post (ETA the competition ends on Saturday 26th November at 11pm GMT). Good luck!

Winners!!

2011-11-19T11:24:00.001Z

Over the last couple of weeks I've been offering up some prizes on either my interviews or guest posts. Well it's time to announce some winners!

The winner of the Josephine Myles Barging In blog tour was someone who commented on the post at Josh Lanyon's blog.

The winner of the JL Merrow Wight Mischief blog toddle prize was diannakay, who commented on Joyfully Jay's lovely blog (and BTW if you haven't found Jay's blog yet, I'd recommend it).

There are three winners for the Aleksandr Voinov Interview posts.The winners, chosen by random.org are:

Copy of Scorpion - Adara O'Hare

Copy of Counterpunch - Orannia

A choice of the author's backlist - Emanuela

I have Orannia and Adara's email addresses which I shall pass on to Aleks, but I don't have Emannuela's email. If you could contact me and let me know your address I can get Aleks to send the books out to you.

Congratulations!

Review: A Blinded Mind by Cari Z

2011-11-18T12:55:00.000Z

I'm a big fan of Cari Z.'s writing and was really pleased when I found out that this novel was being published. Most of her other works are in short story form and I was interested to see whether she could sustain as story over a longer format. Her writing has always appealed to me being both engaging and with a lovely flow. That same strength in the writing is still present in A Blinded Mind, as is a story which is strong on character and setting. However, some of the choices in the narrative style meant that the plot was a little choppy, as I'll go on to explain later.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future where war and WMD have laid waste to many parts of the world and people struggle to survive in a world where food and money are scarce. Living outside the walls of a city is almost impossible because of packs of wild dogs and insane people who are infected with a virus which makes them attack and kill those who are not infected. As the story starts, psychic Jonathan is recaptured after 10 years of freedom. As a child he was recognised as a strong psychic and taken to an institution, PsyCo, where he was imprisoned as possibly dangerous and his abilities were used to test the latest drugs. After escaping, he lived out of the spotlight of PsyCo before an error of judgement brings US agent Sam to his hideout. The pair spend a few weeks together until sickness forces Jonathan's hand and when the soldiers arrive for him, he gives Sam, and therefore himself up. Now he's imprisoned again with no way of knowing whether Sam is alive or not.

Let me start by saying what didn't quite work for me, and may also be off-putting for some readers. The story does not have a conventional linear pattern to it, which makes the narrative structure interesting and allows information about Jonathan's childhood, his relationship with Sam and the circumstances which led to his second imprisonment, to be given to the reader in a way that avoided dumping information. However, it also meant that there were a number of flashbacks and that the story jumped around a lot. This gave it a disjointed feel at times and I sometimes found it difficult to adjust to the new time period or to understand what was happening straight away. If that was the only technique used then I think I could have adjusted to the narrative fairly quickly, but the author used another technique to pass information to the reader. Whilst Sam is whiling away the long and lonely hours of imprisonment he makes up conversations in his head with Sam. These conversations last for a number of pages and are the primary way of giving information to the reader about Sam, Jonathan's involvement with Sam and some background on what Jonathan did with his 10 years of freedom. In some ways I can see why the author did this. It's better to give information through dialogue than in huge passages of info-dump, but most of the time these 'conversations' were happening I couldn't get past the idea that this was all just going on in Jonathan's head. Sort of like he was talking to himself. It left me feeling a bit odd and disconnected with what was happening on the page, plus it meant that more time is spent between 'imaginary' Sam and Jonathan than with 'real' Sam and Jonathan. It was a brave move by the author to use this as a way of finding out more about Jonathan and Sam, but in the end it didn't work too well for me.

What did work, though, was the excellent imaginative world building in the story. The whole set up with the psychic abilities and their use in National defense was well constructed and thoughtful. The post apolcalyptic world was chillingly realistic in its depiction of life both inside the 'safe' cities and in the wilds where no sane man would consider venturing. It said much about Jonathan an his abilities that he was able to survive for so long, isolated and alone in a place where danger lurks around every corner.

As a character, Jonathan had a delightful complexity. He is essentially a good man who has had his abilities used against him, and yet still retains that core of morality which sets him apart from some of the monstrous people he encounters in the book. The book shone for me in the way that we are shown how conflicted Jonathan is, he has a tremendous amount of power at his disposal but only uses it when he is directly threatened or to save others. This made him highly sympathetic and I was genuinely interested in him as a character and his story. This went a long way to my enjoyment of the book and counteracted some of the difficulties I had with the narrative form.

There were many other things I liked about the story such as Jonathan's sweet and tender romance with Sam; his touching relationship with Tai, a fellow prisoner; and the end of the story which was graphic and slightly shocking but retained a hopeful note for the future. The ending to the story is rather open, and I'm hoping this means that we get to see more of these characters and in particular more development of the relationship between Sam and Jonathan.

Overall, I had mixed feelings about the story but thought that the setting and characterisation made up for the weaknesses in the narrative form and, as such, I could happily recommend A Blinded Mind with a grade of 'Very Good'.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Wight Mischief by JL Merrow

2011-11-17T14:14:00.001Z

I'd been looking forward to this new release by JL Merrow for a while. I'm a huge fan of her writing and have pretty much read everything she's published so far (except the shifter books because they're not really my thing). I was particularly attracted to the Isle of Wight setting because, although I've never been, I've heard quite a lot about what a charming and beautiful place it is.

The story begins with two best friends, Will and Baz, arriving on the Isle of Wight for a camping holiday/opportunity for research as Baz is wanting to write a book about ghost sightings on the island. Baz isn't a huge fan of camping but he's humouring Will, and things get off to a pretty good start when two attractive girls happen to be camping on their site - well it's a pretty good start for Baz who quickly hooks up with one of the girls, leaving poor Will to fume silently about being left out in the cold, literally. Will heads off for a walk and accidentally trespasses on private land where he sees a pale ghostly figure disappearing into the sea. It turns out not to be a ghost but rather elusive author Marcus whose grisly past forces him to keep away from everyone. When Baz gets permission to speak to Marcus over the ghosts on his property, Will sees his error and spends the rest of the book trying to get to know Marcus better. However, ghosts, suspicious accidents and over-bearing guardians all get in their way.

I'm going to start with what I didn't like about the book. Firstly, Baz. I really didn't like him too much and in my opinion he had far too much page time devoted to him. My main annoyance with him was the way he treated Will, who was just a lovely man. One minute Baz was being all pally and nice to Will and the next he would lash out in a sarcastic way, or put Will down, or just be plain nasty to him for no real reason, or lead him on with sexual suggestions only to then dump him for a woman. I spent most of the book wondering why Will puts up with him and it actually reflected badly on Will as a character that he allowed Baz to walk all over him, take advantage of his good nature, or that he believed the lies that Baz tells him. In fact my favourite scene between Will and Baz is when Will finally stands up for himself and walks out on Baz. The majority of the story is taken up with Baz and Will's travels around the island as Baz supposedly visits places of ghostly interest. It's not difficult to see that this is just a cover for something else, and again it annoyed me that Will doesn't question Baz about this. In contrast the page time between Will and Marcus is much less and really for the romance to have worked better for me I would have liked to have seen more of Will and Marcus together and less of Will and Baz. Towards the end of the book the focus does shift better towards Will and Marcus, and Baz seems to fade out the book somewhat, although that was too little too late for me as a reader.

I'm going to be a bit spoilerish now so skip this next paragraph if it bothers you.

My other gripe was about the portrayal of Marcus' guardian. This is partly because I have a severe dislike of any villainous character who holds absolute power over one of the heroes, which was definitely the case with Leif. It was also because he turned into a huge caricature moustache twirling villain. The whole 'if I can't have Marcus and his money then no-one can!' showdown was rather far-fetched as was his frankly ridiculous attempts to kill off Will and Baz for no sane reason.

There was still much to like about the book, despite some of my negative feelings. I really liked Will. He's gentle and unassuming, always willing to go the extra mile and genuinely caring about other people. He's hardly met Marcus before he decides that Marcus needs his help and protection, and so sets about trying to make Marcus' life better. Admittedly some of that is due to lust too, and his internal musings about Marcus' body made me smile. Marcus too was a character that worked for me. His albinism was an unusual feature and I thought that was handled both realistically and sensitively in the story. The two men have a sort of hurt/comfort relationship which, I have to admit, is a bit of a favourite of mine and so I liked the way their different attributes complemented each other. I just wish there had been more page time devoted to their romance without the annoyance of Baz or Leif to muddy their relationship.

Another part which worked really well was the setting of the Isle of Wight. Baz and Will spend much of the book driving all over the island and visiting various places of interest. It really gave me a great flavour of what the island is like, whilst also showing the obvious affection that the author has for the place. I love it when a book is so firmly grounded in place and this was a definite positive feature of this book for me.

Overall, as you can see, I had a bit of a mixed response to this book. On one hand I really liked the setting and the characters of Will and Marcus, and thought their romance was quite lovely. On the other hand the characters of Baz and Leif didn't work for me and as such I got annoyed at how much the story seemed to focus on them and not on the romantic couple together. This book is still worth reading though, and it gets a grade of 'Good'.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: The Rifter Part 9: The Iron Temple by Ginn Hale

2011-11-13T16:08:00.000Z

This review can also be found at the DIK blog.

Things are really starting to hot up now in this penultimate part of The Rifter. The story stays with John all the way through as he adapts to his new name of Jath'ibaye and attempts to use his Rifter powers to aid the Fai'daum in their fight. The story opens with John and a small band of Fai'daum rebels who have learned that the Ushiri priests are capturing suspected witches and imprisoning them. Even more horrifying is when it is discovered that the women are being raped in an attempt to increase the numbers of the Ushiri. When the daughter of an influential man is taken, the whole city of Giza is in uproar and John and the Fai'daum take advantage of this to attempt a rescue. Meanwhile, further south Ravishan and Ji are fighting a battle of their own.

There were a couple of things which struck me in particular about part 9. Firstly, the focus of the story has narrowed considerably from part 8. In the previous part the story was busy with rich description and the introduction of many new secondary characters. In this part we focus on John and a small band of Fai'daum rebels, led by Lafi'shir, and there is less in terms of lengthy description of setting and more in terms of dialogue and action. I found this much easier to keep track of who was who as each of the men have distinct personalities and attributes. Each man or pair of men spends a specific amount of time with John so that by the end I felt as though I knew them as well as John does. This also allowed a rather sweet romance sub-plot to strike up between two of the men and provided some much needed emotional relief from some of the heavier violence that permeates this story (I'll talk more on that later). Relief was also found through the camaraderie between the men, which again seeks to bring everything down to a much personal level for John. These are no longer faceless rebels or a huge mass of people living together underground, but rather people who John is growing to respect and like a great deal. I have a feeling this is going to important in the last part of the book.

Secondly, this part is almost non stop action scenes with only a few small quieter scenes to break up the tense and often horrific action. Here we see just what a destructive force is inside John as he, seemingly without thought, kills and maims to reach his own, and the Fai'daum's, goals. John's knowledge that he cannot be killed not only shows him his immortality, but it also makes him less caring of the mortality of others, in particular those who work for the priests or carry out their evil deeds. This is such a great contrast to both the John we see at the beginning of the book and the Jathi'baye from the sections set in the future, that it's a little disconcerting to read. The John here is black and white in his ideas of what constitutes right and wrong and anyone who doesn't fit with his view deserves all they get - even former friends. Having said that, I can see that it is also necessary to see this side of John. For us to understand the Jathi'baye of the future we need to know what led that gentle John from the start of the book to unleash his powers upon Basawar. It's almost frightening to see just how out of control John becomes as this part draws to a close, and yet it is still in keeping with the man we know will do anything to save those he loves.

A word of warning, there's a lot of violence in this part of the book, much of it done to John, and it's rather gruesome in its description in places. Don't let that put you off though because after the quieter and more descriptive foundations laid in part 8, part 9 comes as a whirlwind of action which gripped me from the start. The final part is only a few weeks away and in some ways I'm dreading it. It not only means the end of a book I've thoroughly enjoyed, but it's also going to be quite emotional and perhaps terrible in some of the things that are going to happen. Mostly though, in my mind is a couple of questions: Will John ever get back to Earth and does that even matter now? We shall see.

You can either buy this ninth part - and then any of the other parts - separately for $3.99 each, or buy the whole book at $29.95 and each month the new part will be sent to you via email. More information about this and the buy now page can be found HERE.

Good Intentions

2011-11-11T13:47:00.001Z

I had such good intentions for this week's blogging, I really did. In general I've been quite pleased that I was managing about 3-4 posts a week and I'd got all sorts of plans of what I was going to post this week, which included at least 3 reviews. Well I managed one, I suppose. Plus I did have the lovely JL Merrow pop by on Wednesday, so the week hasn't been a total write off.

It's just been one of those weeks I'm afraid where RL has stepped in and made it almost impossible to a) read anything and b) find the hour or so I need to write a review.

So, all my good intentions have not materialised. Oh well, you get this sort of non-post to read, where I whine on about not being able to post. Which if you think about it is almost post-modern.

Anyway, to make it up to you, here's a cute cat picture. The guy's not too bad either ;).

From Cute Boys With Cats

Have a great weekend!

Review: Long Way Home by Carolyn Gray

2011-11-10T07:00:00.002Z

Long Way Home is a sort of follow on story to the tremendously popular A Red Tainted Silence reviewed here. Fans of that book have been waiting years for more from this author and so there’s a certain amount of expectation behind this book. For me, having only read A Red Tainted Silence last year, the wait has not been too long and whilst I was looking forward to this book, I didn’t come to it with the fervour that some readers have. Perhaps that is why, whilst some of the book absolutely shone for me, for the most part I felt it to be a little unrealistic and overblown.

The story continues almost directly from the previous book, although I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to have read the previous book to understand this one. Here the focus is on Lee, the bass player of Nick and Brandon’s band, Dream. The story begins as the band is winding up its very successful tour. Nick is puzzled when he receives anonymous tickets for the ballet at their final tour destination of Dallas, and persuades Lee to come with him. In fact the tickets were for Lee, and when they watch the ballet, Lee is shocked to discover that one of the dancers is Gev, who is the brother of Lee’s best friend from childhood, Stefan. Stefan was snatched from the park as a young teen and never seen again, and Lee has carried the guilt of this around for years. The pair get together after the show and it’s at that point that life begins to change for both of them, starting with a grizzly murder.

I’m going to start with what didn’t work for me. The story is pretty much a roller-coaster ride all centred around a series of terrible events, murder, attempted murder, bombings, violent acts, and a final dramatic showdown. Listed this way, it makes the story sound very exciting, and taken at a basic level it was. However, it also had the effect of making it all a bit too busy, especially when there are so many secondary characters fitted into the story. What I also found, much to my annoyance, was that each time something dramatic happened it was never dealt with in a realistic fashion or it was dismissed. After the initial murder and the investigation, which was done in a realistic way, every time something happened to Lee or Gev, they just seemed to walk away from it without dealing with it properly. By rights the two men should spent most of the time at the police station either reporting incidents or answering questions, but that never happened. In a way I can understand, it would be a dull book indeed if they had done that, but I spent far too much time whilst reading thinking that you just wouldn’t act in that way. Another reason I found it overblown was because the bad guy was far too much the cartoon villain. Even when all was revealed I thought that the whole thing that happened 15 years before could have been avoided with a call to the police and a restraining order. It just added to the lack of realism.

One final, and more minor niggle was that there was a continuity error in regard to Gev’s dancing job. At the beginning of the story Gev tells us that he now doesn’t have any rehearsals because they are going to be rehearsing something new soon and so are taking a break. Then, almost the next day he has to go into work because of a scheduled rehearsal. we are also told during the book that Gev could take two weeks off dancing but towards the end of the book he says he needs to go back to the studio because he is tightening up after two days. This error, plus a name switch during the book is very unusual for this publisher, and pulled me out of the story a little.

Having said that, one of the plus points for me with this book was Gev’s career as a dancer. In fact one of my favourite scenes is when Gev is dancing with a ballerina and we see how much he loves dancing. The scene then switches to Lee who is watching Gev, aroused by the display of talent. It was a pivotal moment in their relationship and one which sent shivers down my spine. In general I liked the romance part between Lee and Gev, especially in the pull and push between them. This author writes very convincing emotional scenes, and it was when the story focused on the development of the romance, or the emotional impact of the events in the book that was when the story really shone for me. This was particularly true in the loving relationship that Gev has with his sister and nephew. Gev grows a lot in this story and his sister is a support for him the whole time. I liked the way that family was used in this way, especially as it contrasted with Lee’s loner status.

So, overall, whilst I enjoyed parts of this book, I also found that the sheer amount of plot, character and action scenes muddied the waters and that the lack of realism left me a little unconvinced by the story. I’m not giving up on this author though and hope that there won’t be such a long gap until the next book. Grade: Good

Buy this book HERE.

Guest Post: The Haunted Isle by J.L. Merrow

2011-11-09T07:00:00.003Z

Today I'm delighted to introduce the lovely JL Merrow to the blog. I've been a huge fan of JL's books ever since I stumbled across her first ever published short story and was pleased to find it contained a character from Bradford! JL has a new book out just yesterday - Wight Mischief (see below for a blurb and buy link). Today she's here to tell us why she chose ghost hunting for the reason why Baz and Will visit the Isle of Wight. Over to you JL!

THE HAUNTED ISLE

The ostensible reason for Baz and Will's visit to the Isle of Wight—claimed to be the most haunted island in the world—in my new novel Wight Mischief is so that Baz can research a book on ghosts. He's after a bit of "local colour" to pad out his stories of ghostly carriages, ladies in blue, and spectral soldiers.

Carisbrooke Castle, one of the settings for Wight Mischief, which apparently houses more ghosts than you can shake a stick of Isle of Wight rock at.

No not this type of Isle of Wight rock.

This type of Isle of Wight rock!

Baz, it has to be said, doesn't actually believe in ghosts, but he knows a sensational subject when he sees one. Will is more prepared to keep an open mind—so much so that when he first sees Marcus skinny-dipping by moonlight, his initial reaction is to think him a ghost. (There may have been the odd beer or six involved!)

So why is the island so haunted? One theory puts it down to the conjunction of ley lines. For the uninitiated (i.e. me) ley lines are theoretical connections between places of historical, spiritual or geographical interest:

The Isle of Wight is down the bottom, appropriately enough next to no.13.

Apparently ley lines, and their conjunctions, are considered by some to be magical "hot-spots" where you're likely to find all kinds of ghostly goings-on – it's similar to living on the Hellmouth like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (remember her?). Only with a rather less good-looking cast, and a LOT less sunshine.

So is the Isle of Wight really all that haunted?

Alas! Living there all my life until I went to university, and frequently visiting since, I have to confess I've yet to see a single spook. ;)

Further reading: http://www.ghostisland.com/

WIGHT MISCHIEF

BLURB:

A stranger could light up his world...or drive him deeper into darkness.

Will thinks a camping trip with his friend-with-benefits Baz will be a fun break from his usual job as a personal trainer. But the trip turns into a rollercoaster ride as he meets author Marcus - and Marcus' mysterious guardian Leif.

Journalist Baz is supposed to be researching a book on ghosts, yet he seems curiously interested in secrets lying in the reclusive Marcus' past. But these are secrets that someone's determined they should let lie - and if they're not careful, Will and Baz could end up adding to the Island's ghostly population...

Product Warnings: Contains perilous cliffs, elusive might-be ghosts, a secret tunnel, and skinny-dipping by moonlight.

Available now from Samhain and Amazon.

COMMENT TO WIN THE WIGHT:
Everyone who comments on any of my Wight Mischief blog posts will be entered into a prize draw for this sterling silver Isle of Wight charm (1" wide; I've put it on black cord but it could also be worn on a bracelet):

I’ll make the draw on 15th November, 9pm GMT, so you have until then to leave your comments

Review: Counterpunch by Aleksandr Voinov

2011-11-04T10:29:00.002Z

How much you love this book will depend on a couple of things. Firstly, whether you like sports-themed books, and in particular the world of boxing, and whether you can buy into a world where slavery is part of society. Those of you who have read Rachel Haimowitz's book Anchored: Belonging, will recognise this world as Aleks has taken the world she created in that book and used it as a background to this book. However, this story is very different to Rachel's book. In Belonging, Rachel focused on a man who was born into slavery (or at least had been a slave from a very young age) in Counterpunch Aleks takes a man who was sentenced into slavery after he murdered a woman. Thus Brooklyn is a man whose very personality fights against his slavery and as such is a wholly different man from Daniel from Belonging.

The story opens with Brooklyn winning a boxing match. After he became a slave he was bought by a boxing syndicate, called the management, and since then he's risen through the ranks of slave boxers. He's only a couple of matches away from winning the slave heavyweight title and all his aggression and focus is on winning that prize. As well as boxing, Brooklyn's owners pimp him out after matches to rich people who want sexual favours from such a strong man. One of those clients is Nathaniel who surprises Brooklyn with his gentle nature. After a few times together the two men form a bond, but secrets and the legality of slavery mean that things are not easy for them.

Let's face it, the character of Brooklyn is pretty magnificent. He's a man who fights with all his being against what he has become but also recognises that he has to play the system or suffer the consequences. He likes boxing, taking pride in his boxing achievements, and yet he also knows that without his slave status he would never have had the discipline or opportunity to excel in the sport, a thought that sits uneasily with his frustrations. He's also essentially a good man, despite his pent up aggression. He grieves for his lost life, his past actions which led him to this point, and suffers from flashbacks to the time when his life changed completely. One of the things I found particularly clever about the book was the way that our perceptions of Brooklyn slowly change as more and more is revealed about him. This information is drip fed through the book until by the end my understanding of Brooklyn as a person had been turned on its head. It was skilfully done in a way that avoided dumping information, and also allowed for a development of Brooklyn which left him a complete and realistic character by the end of the book. I love it when authors can surprise me like this and it showed a maturity in the writing which I admired a great deal.

I have to admit, I'm not too keen on sports books. I'm also not a huge fan of boxing, as I find it rather a brutal sport. The boxing side of things is described very vividly in this book with some matches shown almost in full, and some only alluded to. These scenes were visceral and blunt in the way that the fights were shown, so much so that they made me wince a little inside. The book is from Brooklyn's point of view so we get his thoughts during the boxing scenes. In a way this was helpful as there was a good mix of cold analysis, as Brooklyn plotted his next punch, and almost bestial emotions because Brooklyn is so filled with raw adrenaline, that he reacts with instinct. Other aspects of the boxing life are dealt with in detail too, from Brooklyn's interactions with his trainer to how his fights are managed and publicised. Those who like boxing will find this aspect fascinating, and it certainly adds considerably to the almost flawless setting and background to the novel. Brooklyn is immersed in the boxing life, and the detail in the setting allows us to see how the structure of boxing dominates his life. Having said all that, for someone like me who isn't particularly interested in the sport, I found myself less engaged when the fights were taking place, or when we were shown what life for a boxer is like. This is just a personal preference though and not really a criticism of the writing, as I can see how some people would find those parts very interesting, and the fights thrilling.

It's slightly unfortunate that when compared to the very much larger than life Brooklyn, Nathaniel fades a little into the background. I can understand their attraction, and I thought it rather clever the way that Nathaniel was able to see what Brooklyn needs and gain his trust by exploiting that. We don't get Nathaniel's thoughts and so it wasn't always easy to understand his motivations. That possibly could have been the point - we, along with Brooklyn - don't know whether to trust him or not, but even by the end when all the secrets have been revealed, I wasn't completely convinced of his feelings for Brooklyn. However, I liked the fact that they are opposite in personality and lifestyle, and some of the dynamics of their relationship especially in terms of power play, was very intriguing.

I do have one niggle about the story which involves Brooklyn's trainer, Les.

This bit might be a bit spoilerish so skip this paragraph if that bothers you.

At the beginning of the story, Les and Brooklyn get on well, and there's even a bit of sexual attention between them. Then later, after an incident where Brooklyn and Les are separated, Les turns on Brooklyn and treats him with coldness and disdain, even allowing others to physically hurt Brooklyn. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why this is. Was it because Brooklyn had broken a slave 'rule'? In which case that didn't reflect on Les because he wasn't even in charge of Brooklyn at the time. Was it because Brooklyn had been taken away from him and he was jealous that another person had trained Brooklyn? In which case it wasn't Brooklyn's fault because he's a slave and has to go wherever anyone tells him. I just wish there had been a conversation between Les and Brooklyn which gave us some indication of why his feelings had changed so dramatically. Brooklyn seems to accept this change and doesn't question it, although he is surprised at first. This was an, albeit minor, blip in the characterisation which bothered me a little.

Those people who read Belonging and found it a little too much in terms of the slavery theme shouldn't be put off this book. Brooklyn's feelings towards his slave status are explored thoroughly, as is the legal side of slavery in England, where this book is set. There were a lot a little incidental details about life as a slave which built to provide a decent picture of the way slavery works in the book. However, those who want to know more about the history of how slavery had developed won't find it in this book.

How to sum up my feelings for this book when they had been rather varied! On one hand I loved, loved, loved the character of Brooklyn and the detail in the setting was breathtaking in its scope and breadth. The story was complex with a high emotional content which made the story very engaging at times. On the other hand I wasn't keen on the scenes in the boxing ring, found the sports stuff didn't hold my attention as much and thought Nathaniel a little dull compared with Brooklyn. Overall, despite those few misgivings, I can still recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of boxing and it gets a grade of Very Good'.

Buy this book HERE.

Author Interview: Aleksandr Voinov Part 2

2011-11-03T07:00:00.019Z

I'm delighted to welcome back Aleksandr Voinov for the second part of my interview with him. The first part was on Tuesday and if you missed it then it's here. The first part concentrated on Aleks as an author and what inspires him to write, today the focus is on some of the books he has written. It's always great to read about the inspiration and reasons behind the books we love and here Aleks has done that for us. On with the interview!

What was the inspiration behind the character of Kendras in Scorpion?

Good question! I’m not entirely sure where Kendras came from – I was on holiday in Turkey (sweltering heat and basically spending the first days clinging to the aircon just to breathe), and suddenly I got this “voice” in my head. A messed up soldier with a broken foot after a lost battle. Marvellous. I was intrigued and spent most of that holiday typing frantically what I was seeing in my head. I didn’t even want the book – I went to Turkey with an idea to sit near the pool and finish my WWII novel, but Kendras had different ideas.

I think several little inspirations came together: the landscape and climate (and food) in Turkey, a chat I had with a friend on Dubrovnik, Glen Cook’s “Black Company” (which I read ages ago), and a scene where a king is being married to the sea – a death/rebirth ritual with orgy conducted by an utterly corrupt, power-mad priesthood (this bit might have turned into its own story – I didn’t yet know it belonged to the Kendras story, but it fell very nicely into place).

What was important about Kendras (and his officer) was that they weren’t white. I witnessed the “race fail” debate, during which I was accused of being a racist because my characters are usually white. So I’d grappled for a months with how a white writer with extremely limited experience of black people can write about black people. What issues can you write about? How to avoid the fetishization that’s always a danger? (You really don’t want to write about “chocolate cocks” for example – it is pretty offensive). Is the character’s world ethnically diverse? How do non-black people respond to black people? Is there such a thing as racism? I’d wrestled with these issues for a while, and then realized that Kendras was black (I didn’t “design” him black, it was something I discovered). Yet, that is not all he is, he’s many other things that are more important to him than his skin colour. Kendras’s ethnicity will play a bigger role in the next book, but it’s not his defining characteristic. He just happened to be black and I happened to come across that. (Don’t you love it when characters suddenly turn into something/body else?)

How much planning did a book like Scorpion take and what was your basis for the political, religious and social structures that you have created in that book?

No planning. I wrote the first 40% of that book in one go, in about five days, with alternating viewpoints of both Steel and Kendras. Then I hit a wall (right where Kendras decides to not stay with Steel but go out and find his comrades). My very nebulous idea that Kendras and Steel would end up together evaporated, because clearly, Kendras didn’t trust Steel enough and I just didn’t see them really fall in love, and I couldn’t force them. That was the moment the book almost died. Feeling like a hack and a loser, I pushed it away for a couple months, during which I started my new job that attempted to kill me with stress (I’m never, ever, returning to journalism), but after I talked to some friends and worked things out, I realized I just had to trust Kendras to do what he wanted.

I eliminated Steel’s point-of-view entirely (about 8-9k), rewrote everything into Kendras’s viewpoint, and let him do his thing. He then did what he had to do, and I just wrote what I saw. The twists in the book (the big revelation about the officer, for example) weren’t planned. The stuff just happened, it all came together. It was like watching a movie. I loved it.

There are two structures – one is political, the other religious, and of course they are all tangled. Dalman, while the old imperial city of a bygone era, is effectively controlled via corrupt high priest’s puppet king. The old “military outpost”, Fetin, is the rival power – basically a military autocracy. Vededrinye is run by the Elder – who’s both the spiritual and the worldly leader of his people. As a historian, I’d say Venice under the Doges, the Vatican as a priest-state, and possibly Sparta are inspirations, albeit seen through my (very) twisted imagination.

In Counterpunch you have taken the AU world created by Rachel Haimowitz and adapted it for your story. How easy was it to work from someone else’s ideas? Was it better or worse than starting from scratch with your own ideas?

When I read Rachel’s “Anchored: Belonging”, my biggest gripe was that the slave, Daniel, is extremely limited in how much he can resist the system keeping him enslaved. The system itself fascinated me (I’ve done some studies on slavery at university, and that Ancient History degree definitely raised its head again here). I wanted to look at a slave who’d fight the system all the way and would be defiant with every breath.

I asked Rachel if I could run with a slave boxer, and she said I could. So, while her story is set in a version on the US, I went with Britain and Europe, which meant I could develop my own stuff, as long as it fitted into the greater concept. We discussed things like the role and attitude of slaves and Companions, manumission (setting a slave free) and other legal concepts, but I could very much do my own thing, so, apart from some chats and coordination to make sure our concepts didn’t clash, I didn’t find it any different to writing from scratch.

You seem to have a fondness for Soviet characters or at least those with a leaning towards Communism. Why is that?

I’m a child of the Cold War (born in 1975). As a teenager, I was completely convinced that I wouldn’t grow into an adult, as both the US and the USSR would turn Europe into a nuclear wasteland. As a Western German, we were brought up to think the US was the bee’s knees, but I couldn’t help being fascinated by the other side – the Soviets. I tried to understand what was going on. You know, the whole Sting “The Russians love their children, too” thing. It’s never left. It caused me to read widely on Russian history and culture, but I failed at learning the language (I can read the alphabet, which came in handy when I went to Moscow last year) and I have a huge respect to all “real life” Russians I’ve met and talked to.

I slowly realized the terrible damage they’ve all sustained under the totalitarian system/s. That alone would fill several books and I could go on and on about it, but totalitarianism is the bane of humanity, whether you call it Stalism, Nazism, Fascism doesn’t even matter. And again the German background plays a role – half my family vanished behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Germany and was subjected to Socialist totalitarianism. Those scars are still there. I’m just trying to understand, so I put these things out into characters and see what they do. Mikhail Volkov, Vadim Krasnorada, Nikita Kazakov – they all have their issues and biographical wounds. I also, strangely, find the Russian “mentality” easier to write about than many others.

What interests you about the dynamics of dominance and submission and why does this feature in many of your books?

I’ve talked to BDSM lifestylers about that, and apparently what I do is not always BDSM, but when it called “power exchange”. It’s fascinating when people negotiate power. When there are no roles that people just assume for the sake of the author or the good old alpha/omega dynamic that many seem to fall back on. My guys are just guys, and they have varying levels of sexual/erotic flexibility, but all of them are aware of power, power dynamics and issues like control and trust and status (I might have hung around bankers for too long!). When you meet somebody, you don’t know how they work, and there’s that delicious dance of getting to know each other – what the other person likes and what are hot buttons. That negotiation, that insecurity, that lure and danger of the unknown fascinates me endlessly.

Transit is a very different book to your others in that it’s a straightforward and quite sweet contemporary romance. How did this book come about?

We started work on this when the call came out for I Do, Too (a charity anthology about love and marriage). I really wanted to donate a story for this very worthy cause. But Andrew and Javier just kept going, and we wrote twice the amount of words that were allowed for the anthology.

Transit was definitely a case when you hope that that bone belongs to a small animal, but it didn’t. While we worked on that story, the global economy was going to hell, and I’d talked about a friend who works in advertising and what was going on in the industry at that point in time. I wanted to write about all that, but with an uplifting angle.

It’s a very Christmassy story, too, and Christmas has always been a time of reflection for me. “Am I where I want to be? And how the hell did I end up doing this?” My character, Andrew, thought he was really slick and doing well, while the corporate politics were slowly strangling his enthusiasm and joy. I admire people greatly who are capable of stopping in the middle of all that stress and horror of a bad job and ask (and answer) the hard questions. Where do I want to go? Is this the best/healthiest/sanest I can be? What needs changing? What about my soul/heart/emotions?

I did enjoy writing it, but it sits oddly next to the others, I admit.

I’ve loved all your historical novels. How does writing an historical compare to a contemporary or fantasy/sci-fi? Do you have plans for more historical?

Thanks! Historicals are about a hundred times more work than anything else, probably because I’m completely neurotic about accuracy, like my history professors are watching while I type. It’s that bad. In fantasy, you can take history, twist the bits you like and ignore the stuff you know nothing about (hence Scorpion feels “pseudo-historical” – clearly, there’s a lot of my history background in there, but it’s only adhering to its own internal logic). It still needs to be well-written and make sense, but you can hand-wave issues like “were there atheists in the Middle Ages?” and just posit that Kendras is so cynical he is basically an atheist in a world where a lot of people are not.

If I write about a Templar like William Raven from Deliverance, I’m looking at his weapons, his ideology, his personal take on it, his background as a noble from a specific area in Europe, and his overall mentality and attitude (also about sex, gay sex, “being gay”). If you take Deliverance – there’s a training combat scene of maybe 500 words that took 3-4 days of research. The boar hunt in Lion of Kent is the result of ten days of research - we’re talking maybe 2-3k words here. But it is as accurate as I could make it without acquiring an MA in Medieval Hunting or going on an actual boar hunt myself (I had the funds and the times to do things like that, I totally would, though).

And, yes, I’m getting less neurotic about historicals (less fear, more confidence). Kate Cotoner and I have started work on Lion’s Share, the next part in William Raven’s story, so that’s medieval.

Then I’m joking that in 2012, I will be living in the Second World War. I have three, maybe four stories set in WWII, and two of them are definitely novels. I know the shapes of those two – the rest might be novels or novellas or might not happen at all. It’s way too early to say anything about them.

I’m going to devote the whole year to those two novels. I’m not rushing it, if I need to read tens of thousands of pages of research to get them exactly right, that’s what I’m going to do. I couldn’t forgive myself if I got those wrong. Once you’re writing historicals about what’s still inside “living memory”, the stakes go up tremendously. WWII created the modern world as we know it, too many people died – I just can’t take this lightly. I’m still grappling with the whole event, what it did, what it meant, but I feel there are untold stories and they’ve come to me to be told.

You are very active over the internet with your own blog, Twitter, Facebook, Good Reads and commenting on other blogs. How important is it for authors such as yourself to keep up an internet presence?

Apart from as a procrastination tool? (Laughs) I guess most of my friends and “close contacts” are “virtual people on the internet”. That’s my tribe, that’s where I feel comfortable and where I go to unwind after a rough day at the day job. I just hang out and enjoy myself. I like discussing what we’re doing and networking with other writers, readers and other fans of the genre, bloggers and reviewers. I’m all that too; writer, reader, blogger and reviewer. It’s a great way to stay abreast of news and trends, what people complain about and what they like. Some discussion topics (like “race fail” or “violence in romance”) caused me to look at my own writing and my own attitudes, sharpening my understanding of what it is what I do and how other people see it. Sometimes I might even have a clever idea to contribute. It’s one gigantic conversation, and I’m too interested to hear people’s opinions to shut up and sit back.

But, yes, if you’re an indie author in our space, you have to have a website and/or blog at least. Readers that loved your book will check out your website/blog, to learn about other books, maybe even the brain behind it all.

You have a new book coming out...tell us about it.

There are several (I’ve had an incredibly busy 2011): The Dark Soul series from Riptide, and Break and Enter from Samhain in December, but let’s go with the novel out just right now: Counterpunch. Slave boxers (the fighter, not the garment). The blurb does a great job of summing it up:

Fight like a man, or die like a slave.

Brooklyn Marshall used to be a policeman in London, with a wife and a promising future ahead of him. Then he accidentally killed a rioter whose father was a Member of Parliament and had him convicted of murder. To ease the burden on the overcrowded prison system, Brooklyn was sold into slavery rather than incarcerated. Now, he's the "Mean Machine", a boxer on the slave prizefighting circuit, pummelling other slaves for the entertainment of freemen and being rented out for the sexual service of his wealthier fans.

When Nathaniel Bishop purchases Brooklyn's services for a night, it seems like any other assignation. But the pair form an unexpected bond that grows into something more. Brooklyn hesitates to call it "love"—such things do not exist between freemen and slaves—but when Nathaniel reveals that he wants to help get Brooklyn's conviction overturned, he dares to hope. Then, an accident in the ring sends Brooklyn on the run, jeopardizing everything he has worked so hard to achieve and sending him into the most important fight of all—the fight for freedom.

As all of my books, it has men fighting for what’s important to them, power exchange, hot sex, intrigue, politics, and men with big issues that eventually work things out. It’s pretty intense and I’m really proud how it has turned out. In terms of my novels, it’s the best I’ve done so far on my own, with Scorpion a close second.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to slow the hell down. (Laughs) 2011 has been such a ride that I honestly need a breather. I want to finish Lion’s Share in 2011, but for 2012, my only goal is to relax and write my WWII novels. From a reader’s perspective, 2012 will be really quiet. I might do some shorts – they might just happen in between as I stumble over some dinosaur bones – but that year is filled up with the historical novels, and they are the Big Priorities. Yep, that’s it.

Thank you for the interview!

Thank you very much for hosting me on your blog!

You can find Aleks on his website or at his blog or on Good Reads or on Twitter as @vashtan.

Many, many thanks to Aleks for these comprehensive and very enlightening answers. Don't forget that if you leave a comment on either (or both) of today or Tuesday's posts then you can be in the running for a copy of Scorpion, of Counterpunch and one choice from Aleks' backlist. Good luck!

Review: Life Begins at Forty by Jessie Blackwood

2011-11-02T16:09:00.001Z

This story follows on from the end of Per Ardua which I reviewed here at Jessewave's site. Jack is approaching his 40th birthday and his cousin Bronwen has plans for a big party. Jack and Ifan are horrified when they received a poison pen letter, which tells them that they will be exposed as 'sodomites', especially when Bronwen is injured by a stone which has been deliberately thrown through their door window. The two men know that they have been very careful in public not to show the true nature of their feelings, but when a police inspector from Cardiff arrives to investigate it puts a strain on Jack's nerves and his relationship with Ifan.

Whilst I didn't dislike this story, it suffers from a lack of story or plot. The above summary basically tells you what happens. I was a bit baffled really as to why I was reading a bit of a non-story, no matter how nicely written, when there was scope within the first few pages for something a bit less bland and more exciting. When the story begins with the poison pen letter and the stone through the door window, I thought that maybe the story was going to take on a bit of mystery story line with our heroes helping the police by doing a bit of sleuthing on the side, but no, all the solving of the mystery is done elsewhere and off page. Instead the letters are used as a focus for a mini-breakdown by Jack and the cause of a minor bust-up between our heroes. The argument surfaces over nothing - a storm in a teacup really - and things get blown out of proportion, Ifan totally overreacts and the next day things settle down after Jack comes to his senses. That pretty much sums up all the complications in the story, the rest of the time is made up of lots of prettily written filler scenes where Jack writes his memoirs, takes part in a birthday surprise and has a party. Even the sudden, rather unrealistic, insertion of a dramatic scene at the end of the book, or the way that the book dealt a little with the problems of being gay in the 1940's, didn't really lift the story out of its blandness.

The above paragraph may lead to believe that I didn't really like the book. That wasn't the case at all. It was nice and pleasant to revisit the characters of Jack and Ifan. The author has a fluid way of writing that makes everything flow nicely and I read the novella quickly. Jack is an easy character to like and even his minor breakdown was handled in a sensitive fashion. I liked that Ifan was starting to stand up for himself a bit and although there's not that much change in their relationship dynamics, Jack begins to understand some of Ifan's needs that he'd not seen before. the characters and the dialogue fitted well with the time period and the whole book was firmly grounded in the historical setting.

This really is a story for those who loved the previous book and to understand how Jack and Ifan come to love each other you need to read Per Ardua first. For me, it was a pleasant interlude but nothing that left me with a lasting impression of the story which is why I've gone for a rating of 'Good'.

Buy this book HERE.

Author Interview: Aleksandr Voinov Part 1

2011-11-01T19:24:00.001Z

Today I'm very pleased to introduce Aleksandr Voinov to my blog. I'm a great admirer of his writing and have read all his m/m books, except for the verrrrrry long Special Forces which I know many of you have read and enjoyed. Speaking of very long, Aleks has had so many fascinating and interesting things to say that the interview was rather long, so we've decided to post it in two halves, one today and one on Thursday. Today's questions are all focused on Aleks as a writer and Thursday's questions will be more specifically about certain books and his plans for the future.

So without further ado, it's on with the questions!

How did you get into writing m/m novels?

I started in the German speculative fiction mainstream – epic fantasy, cyberpunk and science fiction (but my first sale was a horror short story). My main characters were always gay or bisexual men, but to sell any book at all, publishers kept telling me to “tone down the gay stuff”. When I looked at getting into the thriller and/or historical mainstream, publishers and agents suggested I write “strong women” rather than men, let alone gay or bi ones. What I kept hearing was: “Your talent is wasted on the niche – write what everybody else is writing and you’ll earn big bucks, we’ll even put you into hardcover.”

I tried, gods, I tried, but my “strong woman in Medieval Germany” novel never got further than 30 pages in, and every single page got me one step closer to a nervous breakdown. I hated it. At roughly that time, I was leaving Germany for good, and started the transition from writing a bit in English to writing mostly in English. Looking around on Livejournal, I seemed to have acquired a huge amount of friends in the slash community/ies and other m/m and gay lit writers. When I checked out their work (like Erastes’s, Alex Beecroft’s and Kirby Crow’s) I realized, woah, there seems to be a way to write what I write and actually find a few readers.

So I ramped up “the gay” that the spec fiction publishers made me tamp down to the level that I damned well wanted it to be. It was a lot like coming home, I loved being able to write sex without getting reviews on Amazon that said “eeeeewwwww, the cool main character is gaaaaaaaaayyyyy! Readers beware!”

I focused a lot more on the romance plot, and flipped the romance sub-plot over to turn into the primary plot, and I revelled in all the freedoms I suddenly had. I submitted my first stories, almost all of them got accepted, and I’ve just continued on that track.

How difficult do you find being a British author in a US dominated market?

I’m actually a German author in Britain writing in (somewhat bastardised) British English for a global audience. Talk about a double exile! No, joking aside, I had trepidations that I might not be able to write about Americans and Americans might not care at all what I have to say (and, absolutely, most of our readers are from the US). That said, I didn’t find that to be such an issue. My reader feedback is very international. I’ve received emails from Singapore to Russia, Italy, Finland, Indonesia and Pakistan, amongst many others. Also, Americans, contrary to the cliché that is being peddled, actually are interested in cultures and countries not their own. Half of the tourists I hear in London are Americans.

Notably, many international readers – for want of a better term – enjoy that my cast is also pretty international. That ranges from Russians telling me I “nailed” that Russian character to an email like: “Thank God, one author who does not write about white middle-class suburban Americans only!” from a Chinese lady.

Which do you prefer to write: short or long fiction? Why?

I’m one of those writers who have no clue what they’re getting themselves into when they start a story. I compare it to being an archaeologist on a dig: You scrape and brush pieces away and then you find a bone! Excitement! But whether it’s something small and manageable like an eohippus or a T-Rex is something I find out as I keep digging, and usually when there’s no turning back.

I’m suddenly 20k in and realize, nah, it’s not a novella, I won’t be done anytime soon, as it has just sprouted sub-plots, and one character is not who we all think he is. I do like Deliverance at around 7k words just as much as Scorpion at almost ten times that. A story finds its natural shape, and an important skill is to find out what that is. Michelangelo said he was only “freeing” the statues from the blocks of marble. It’s in there, you can feel it, but it takes experience, I think, to really sense the shape in advance. That said, I’ve been wrong at times. Scorpion was a novella and then things hit the fan. And then it worked hard to become a series.

How much time do you spend writing each day (or each week, if you prefer)?

Writing in my head – every waking moment. Being a writer is a way to think and see the world, being open to ideas all the time. It’s a stance more than a profession, in my book at least. Actually fingers on keyboards, or pen in notebook – I’d think around 20-30 hrs a week. With my 35 hrs work week, 15 hrs total commuting time, the commitments and what I laughingly call my “social life”, it’s probably good I’m a workaholic.

You often co-write with other authors. How do these partnerships come about and what is it about co-writing that you enjoy so much?

It’s case by case. Barbara Sheridan invited me into Risky Maneuvers to help her write the military character (who’d end up being Mikhail). Turns out, she needed absolutely no help at all, but we got along really well, so we wrote Clean Slate and First Blood next. I was chatting with Rachel Haimowitz one day, we were kicking ideas around – as writers often do – and we basically went “damn, we HAVE to write that now!” I asked Kate Cotoner for help with Lion of Kent – she has all the knowledge about the English Middle Ages that I’m lacking (I’m more focused on Continental Europe), and having two historians on the same historical is a great thing, in any case.

What great about it is that it feels a lot like somebody’s telling a story just for you. It’s awesome. Of course, to keep the story going, you have to help with the telling (that is, write your half), but it’s a lot like making stuff up we all did as kids. It’s completely playful and fun, and a real contrast to the daily slog and grind of writing alone.

You’ve written in a range of genres but which would be your favourite and if you were to write something in a different genre what would you choose and why?

My muse has a serious case of ADD – whatever I’m currently writing is my favourite. When I wrote Counterpunch, I was massively into sports books and alternative universe contemporaries. Right now, I’m on a history binge. When I’m so into something, it’s the bee’s knees to me. One genre to rule them all, that kind of thing. Then I’m done with the book or the books and feel I’ve said what I can say in that genre.

And then my Muse goes “LOOK! SHINY!” and I’m off in a different direction. Seriously, it would be a huge issue if I were trying to make a living in the mainstream – I’d need a new author name for every single genre I’d write, and that’s right out, because my output would be random and patchy in the extreme, even if I were five different brands, and nobody’s going to agent you if you’re all over the map like that. I don’t know how writers keep doing the same genre – I admire people who can write three contemporaries a year, every year, for fifty years, but I’d suffer like a dog if I weren’t allowed to play. Good thing that I don’t have to make a living from writing – I can stay an amateur and happily free and playing for as long as I want.

And my guilty secret is: I want to write one “literary novel” in my life. Just one. And just because my agent said I don’t have the chops to be a literary writer. I like to prove people wrong, and because it’s a genre that I really haven’t understood yet. It’s my own personal white whale that I’ll keep chasing across the Seven Seas, that’s clear. I guess we all need one unattainable – or at least stupidly ambitious – goal in our lives.

You are published by many different publishers. Why have you chosen to do that?

When I started, I asked my writer friends about which publishers they’d recommend. I got so many conflicting accounts that, when I collated them, the data wasn’t giving me a clear picture. So I did more research, and resolved to publish with all of the big names to be able to get an idea of the quality of covers, editing, and the number of sales (talk about applied insanity).

I always intended to narrow the number of publishers down to those two or three that are best suited for me personally, and now, two years later, I have that list. I might still give a different publisher a chance – I’m always open to places with good editing, good covers and a good reputation that are author-friendly in contract terms – so it’s not carved in rock. But I pretty much know what I want from a publisher and which ones can give me that.

Thank you, Aleks for those enlightening answers to my nosy questions! Come by again on Thursday folks to find out what inspired Aleks to write some of his books and also to see what he's got lined up for 2012.

Also those of you who leave a comment on the interview either today and/or Thursday have an opportunity to win one copy of scorpion, one of counterpunch and one choice from Aleks' backlist. Good luck!

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEEEE!

2011-10-30T18:33:00.000Z

As many of my internet friends know, today is my birthday. Now this time last year I was in San Francisco having a blast with Chris, Kris, Tracy and Tam at Yaoicon (as well as a number of assorted authors including my mate Clare London). Sadly, this year can't really top that for general excitement and fabulousness, but several great things have happened.

Firstly, yesterday this arrived:

From the lovely Tam. It's the first time I've had flowers sent to my home so I was pretty chuffed to say the least. Aren't they lovely?

I've also had some ARe vouchers sent to me by my mate Kris, so I'm looking forward to buying some new books too.

Finally, and perhaps the most exciting thing, is that my family have all clubbed together (hub, my mum, sis, and my in-laws) and have bought me this:

It was a total surprise - although I knew something was going on because they've all been a bit shifty for the last few days - and I'm thrilled.

So, I may not have been in SF, spending time with my internet mates and experiencing the delights of Yaoicon, but I've still had a pretty spiffing day all round.

Thank you to all those who wished me a Happy Birthday on Twitter. It was much appreciated.

Review: Layover by Elizabeth Coldwell

2011-10-29T10:04:00.000+01:00

I requested this book from Xcite because it sounded like a fun bit of erotica, and actually, yes that's what it was! It tells of Scottish flight attendant, Cal, who has an overnight layover in Aruba where he meets Justin, the manager of the resort where Cal is staying. They hit it off and when the tail end of a hurricane means that Cal has to stay another night, the pair make the most of their time together.

This short novella had a lot of good things about it. I liked Justin and Cal but there wasn't anything which made them stand out from the ordinary. They are both nice men who have demanding jobs and who are a little bit lonely. We find out next to nothing about them other than that and a little about Cal and his ex-boyfriend. The sex scenes between Cal and Justin are hot and well written with a slight kink to them, although the number of times the word 'wank' was used made me snigger like a teenage boy. One slight question was when Justin used the word wank. He's from the USA and I didn't think they used that word over there, maybe someone can correct me on that. As this is an erotic novella, much of the story is made up of sex, but there was also a decent balance between sex/not sex in the book and so I didn't feel that it was all sex and no plot.and the HFN ending left me with a smile on my face.

The setting was unusual and I liked some of the descriptions of Aruba. I've not been there and it sounds like a very interesting place to visit.

I did have some niggles, mainly minor ones. For example Cal and Justin both make great pains to let us know that they don't sleep around and that the way they jump into to sex with each other in the first few minutes is atypical. I always find this a bit annoying in books as it's used as a sort of shorthand to signpost 'this is the one', and really it wasn't necessary. I'd rather a character behaved as they normally do, and it would have only taken a short time of them getting to know each other to make it believable that they would then want to have sex. Another niggle was that at the beginning of the story the flight crew are partying rather raucously in the bar and Justin asks them to leave saying it was late. It was only 10.30pm! I can't see a hotel manager turfing out paying customers at that time - maybe asking them to keep it down, yes, but not asking them to leave. Then Justin and Cal go skinny dipping and we are told that no-one was about because it was so late. It was still way before midnight by my reckoning so that seemed a bit wrong too as I would have expected plenty of people to be out enjoying the balmy night air at that time.

As I said these are only very minor niggles and are all from the first few pages of the book, after that the story settled and I rather enjoyed this erotic story. If you're looking for a fairly quick sexy read with a pair of amiable heroes, then this book would be a decent choice. Grade: Good.

Buy this book HERE.

A-Z Challenge Review: Unspeakable Words by Sarah Madison

2011-10-28T12:04:00.000+01:00

Why I bought the book: It had a lot of good reviews.

Plot: FBI agent Jerry is used to being passed around between departments. His brilliant mind is offset by his lack of people skills and so he isn't too surprised when he gets placed on a murder cold-case. There's some possible new evidence in this serial killer murder case and so Jerry gets paired with John, who is handsome, charming and straight. They clash heads for a while, especially because John ends up staying with Jerry, until an accident involving a mysterious artifact at the museum gives John a special power and Jerry has to then protect John whilst also attempting to solve another murder.

I'm going to have to be a bit spoilerish in this review because there's no way I'm going to be able to talk about the book without revealing John's special power. It's a shame really because I bought this a while ago and had forgotten what it was about so the whole thing was a complete surprise to me. In fact one of the few criticisms I have of this book is that the whole 'special power' thing came completely out of nowhere and flummoxed me for a while. I thought I was reading a murder/mystery book and so when John gets zapped by the artifact, I was scrambling to catch up and adjust my brain to the new development! Once I got back in the groove though it was fine, although I was a little disappointed with the gaping hole left when we never discover what the artifact is and why it would 'choose' John to zap. Jerry makes a couple of half-hearted attempts to find out more but that whole part was dropped later in the book.

Characters: The strength of this book is in the great chemistry between the leads. Jerry is well aware of his shortcomings and spends much of the first part of the book feeling a mix of resentment and grudging admiration for John, all muddled together with a growing attraction - at first for John's body but then for him as a person. The fact that John can then read Jerry's mind makes for some hilariously awkward conversations, as Jerry is one of these people whose mind runs constantly and often with many inappropriate comments. In particular he finds it difficult to hide his attraction for John, which John finds both flattering and embarrassing. I loved how the whole mind reading aspect of the book was handled, especially because the humour blended perfectly with the romance and allowed the Gay For You story line to develop slowly. I think the story also worked because we only get Jerry's point of view. Whilst this meant that we don't get John's thoughts during his confusion over his attraction to Jerry, the author had still done a great job in showing us John's developing feelings through his facial expressions, actions and the dialogue which zings between him and Jerry. There were some great set pieces of action, such as Jerry taking the opportunity to masturbate whilst John is out of the apartment; or when they bump into Jerry's ex-lover; or the tense scenes towards the end of the book which lifted the story from the ordinary, gave us much insight into the character and forwarded the romance in a way that seemed fluid and easy to read.

Overall: I really enjoyed this book. It's not perfect, as I've already mentioned there are a few plot holes and the mystery plot very much takes a back seat once John gets zapped. However, the positives such as the fantastic electricity between John and Jerry, the engaging writing and the humour in the story, all kept me reading. I was sorry when it ended because I could have read much more from these characters. I've read a couple of shorts by this author, as well as this novella, and have so far been impressed with the writing and imagination. I'll be keeping my eye out for further releases from her. Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: When I Fall by Belinda McBride

2011-10-26T13:44:00.000+01:00

When I Fall is the sequel to An Uncommon Whore which I liked a great deal and reviewed HERE. That previous book had been taken from the first person point of view of Pasha/Helios and I found him to be a very sympathetic narrator. When I Fall has a change in narrative and is taken from the first person viewpoint of Griffin, Helios' rescuer and later lover. The story picks up a little while after the end of the previous book. Helios is now established king on Neo Domus, ruling over the band of displaced refugees who have found a new home on the planet. Griffin is Helios' personal guard and consort, a position which he enjoys on the whole but which has its limitations in that Griffin is not privy to many of the state secrets that Helios has to keep. It's this which is starting to cause a rift between them as the strong and protective Griffin finds himself shut out.

The story is essentially divided into two halves. The first half, set on Neo Domus is full of political wrangling and Helios' struggles with power over the council. As the story is from Griffin's point of view, and because he is excluded from some of the things that happen, it was, for me the weakest part of the book. Griffin spends most of the time mooching about feeling sorry for himself because Helios is keeping secrets and no longer needs to rely on Griffin quite so much. Gradually we learn some of these secrets but I couldn't help but get the impression that this section would have had more dramatic impact if taken from Helios' point of view. I wanted to know his thoughts and feelings about being in power, and his frustrations and sadness over his deteriorating relations with Griffin. As it is we only get everything second hand when Helios chooses to tell Griffin. The rest of the time we are subject to Griffin's sulking insecurity about his place in Helios' life.

The second half of the story takes place on another planet as Helios make an important diplomatic visit to secure allies for Neo Domus. Here the action and tension of the book is ramped up as Helios and Griffin are under constant threat. This allowed for less of the self-absorption from Griffin and more positive action. We are introduced to a few new species and whilst there was still some political wrangling and arguments, this was broken up by some exciting action scenes. It was in this half where Griffin and Helios begin to resolve some of their differences, narrowing the gap that had begun to widen in their relationship. It was interesting to see how the power dynamics shifted and also how the secrets between them were used to strengthen rather than weaken the relationship.

Another aspect of the book which I found very interesting was the way in which it dealt with the trauma of the past war on the Arashan people. Some readers may not like some of the more brutal descriptions of what happened when the planet was invaded by the Landaun, but I thought it added a realistic note to the lives of these displaced people who are still recovering from the terrible things that happened to them. We get more insight into Griffin and his family, especially his wife, as a result of this dwelling on the past and some of the parts where we see the effect on Griffin's children in particular were poignant.

Despite my misgivings about the first half of the book the writing is still beautifully done. The descriptions of Neo Domus were vivid and brought the place to life in my mind. The author also has a poetic way of writing at times which lifted this story from the ordinary. In particular I liked this passage where Griffin reflects on his and Helios' differing personalities:

Helios sat down next to me, sharing the silence like the gift it was. The snow came down heavier; tree limbs bent under its weight, until the springy branches finally bowed enough to rid themselves of the burden, then sprang up to collect it again. That was Helios. He bent under his troubles, then finally let them slip away. I was more like the giant hardwoods of Arash; they would split and crack under the burden of the snow. It was a lesson I would take to heart. I wanted to be more like him.

It was passages like this and the descriptions of the setting which added to my enjoyment of this book.

Overall, I very much liked When I Fall, perhaps not as much as the first book in terms of character, but it was certainly a book with more depth and richness of setting than An Uncommon Whore. In the end I am giving this book a grade of 'Very Good'. For those who have read the first book this is a must-read, but I do suggest that you read An Uncommon Whore first to really understand some of the background to this sequel.

Buy this book HERE.

A-Z Challenge Review: Tempestuous by Morgan Hawke

2011-10-25T21:12:00.002+01:00

Why I bought the book: I bought it after reading Torrid by this author (which I reviewed here) and it's been on my TBR pile for two years, believe it or not.

Plot: This is one of Morgan Hawke's Yaoi inspired books. The story is based on the Kitsune myths. Rusty is a costume designer who manages a costume shop. When a gorgeous looking man, Shiro, comes in to collect a costume he flirts shamelessly with Rusty and is very interested in Rusty's black fox mask which Rusty carved when he was a teenager. When Shiro tells Rusty that he's been looking for him for some time and that he has a fox mask just like Rusty's, Rusty is thrown into a confusing world where nothing is as it seems and where he is has no choice but to to submit to a man.

The story itself is a typical Yaoi. The strong and attractive Shiro confuses Rusty who isn't gay, but feels mesmerised and intimidated by Shiro's assertion that they are meant to be together. The Kitsune myth is successfully integrated into the story and there was a nice blend of the modern with the fantastical. The part where Rusty makes his transformation was handled in a way that was amusing but also showed how baffled Rusty is at what is happening to him. I especially liked the way he had difficulty in controlling his ears and tail. There were, however, a few plot holes which irked me by the end. For example, Rusty leaves his old life behind seemingly without regret. There were also a few things introduced into the story which are never properly explained, such as Rusty's power to control the weather or the reason why he bleeds from a wound in his neck when he needs feeding.

Characters: I liked Rusty a great deal as a character and thought him rather sweet and noble. His confusion is endearing and I was interested to see how things worked out for him in the story. Unfortunately I didn't like Shiro who was far too smug and self-satisfied. Like many Yaoi stories, Shiro as the Seme delighted in taking the upper hand but the inequality irked me a little and I just didn't feel any romantic spark between the characters. Shiro almost drugs Rusty with his sexual advances making him unable to form a coherent thought; he uses sexual bondage and manipulation to get what he wants; and whilst all the sex is consensual, Shiro is totally in control and almost blackmails Rusty into bottoming for him. What did work was the way the two men clash in a battle of wills and some of my favourite parts were those where Rusty is refusing to back down from Shiro or finds a way to circumvent the sexual manipulation. This just made me like Rusty more for standing up for himself.

Overall: The parts of this story which worked best for me were those which used humour to lighten the situation and where Rusty fights for his independence from Shiro. I also liked the background to the story where we learn how Rusty has come to be as he is, and also some of the ways he has learned to survive. The rest of the story still worked and made sense, but my dislike of Shiro as a character rather clouded my feelings towards their HEA. The story was still worth reading though and gets a grade of 'Good' from me. Those who like Yaoi inspired stories should give this one a go.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Barging In by Josephine Myles

2011-10-22T11:01:00.000+01:00

I've put off writing this review for a few weeks now. Not because I didn't like the book but at around the time I was thinking about reviewing there were several reviews of the book posted on other sites, many of which were saying exactly what I was going to say. So, I decided to hold off. It's an interesting experience waiting a while to review a book because your perception of it changes the longer you leave it. Some books fade into only a vague remembrance and others, like this one, remain strongly in your mind. These are always the best books, I think.

The story follows Dan who is a travel writer for a magazine. He's doing a story on narrowboat (or barge) holidays and as we first meet him he is struggling with working out how to steer the boat. His eye is caught by a good looking man on the tow path and this, coupled with his ineptitude, almost causes him to crash. The man on the tow path, Robin, is not impressed by Dan, labeling him a dangerous tourist, especially when Dan gets stuck trying to turn the boat.

There were lots of things to like about this story but the thing that interested me the most is the way that the narrowboat community is shown. I have to admit, I know next to nothing about this aspect of my culture, despite living not too far from the Leeds/Liverpool canal. I hadn't realised that people who choose not to pay for expensive moorings are seen in the same light as those travellers who camp out in caravans and therefore either scorned as 'dirty' or treated with suspicion. I thought the author had done a good job in showing the different types of people who live on narrowboats: From Robin whose boat is well maintained and very clean, to those don't have the funds to keep their boats as nice; from those who have families and well paid jobs to those with little or no income. The various personalities of those living on the canal intertwined with the lives of Dan and Robin bring a freshness of colour to the book which I enjoyed a great deal. I also liked how the difficulties of life on a narrowboat was shown without it overwhelming the story. As the story progressed I found out all sorts of information from the difficulties the boat owners face from British Waterways to how to cope with little fresh water or no electricity. Very interesting!

Dan and Robin were wonderful characters. Both are very flawed and at first seem to clash more than complement each other. Dan is a bit of a slut who always has an eye out for the next opportunity to get laid. He's not one for commitment, preferring to live in the now rather than look for long term. On the other hand he's also very socialable, making friends easily and winning people round with his charm and enthusiasm. he certainly won me round and I warmed to him almost straightaway. Robin is very different to that. He's quite quiet, a thinker who keeps to himself and doesn't make friends so easily. Those he does make, he keeps. He's not interested in short term relationships but Dan wins him round to a holiday romance. Robin's main flaw is his stubborn independence and also his inability to trust Dan. His misplaced jealousy drives a wedge between them. Both characters grow a lot in the story. Dan has to learn to keep it in his pants but also to tone down his flirty nature and to be more considerate of Robin. Robin has to learn to trust Dan and also to allow people to help him when he needs it. It was delightful to watch these men struggle against their natures to come together and stay together. They both had to work hard to make the relationship work, even failing at times, and that made for a very rewarding reading experience for me.

I'm trying to think of anything that bothered me about this book, but actually I can't think of any really off-putting negatives about it. I liked the flawed but likable characters; the setting was unusual and uniquely British (which is always a bonus for me); the sex scenes were raunchy at first but settled nicely into something more romantic by the end; and the plot moved quickly. Even a slight separation and misunderstanding at the end wasn't enough to detract from the book's overall merits. I'm giving Barging In a grade of 'Excellent' and I can see it will be a book I read again in future.

Buy this book HERE.

A-Z Challenge Review: Slow Bloom by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox

2011-10-21T16:55:00.003+01:00

Why I bought the book: This is another book which has been in my TBR pile for a loooooong time, so long I'm not sure quite what prompted me to buy it. I think it was after reading a good review at Jessewave's site.

Plot: Jack is a middle aged and rather curmudgeonly author whose summer is brightened up considerably when he realises that his neighbour's kid, who is earning money by gardening for him, has developed into a rather attractive 18 year old man. He's even more delighted when Ricky seduces him in his kitchen leading to a summer of no-strings fun for both of them. After the summer Ricky goes to College but neither of them are ready to break off the ties completely.

I seem to think that this books started life as a serialisation on the Turn of the Screw TQ subscription service. This shows a little in the way the book is structured in that each chapter is made up of a section where the scene is set and the plot is furthered, followed by an extended sex scene. Whilst this was still interesting and, at least at first, the sex showed a progression in the relationship, I found that by the end of the book I was getting a little tired of this structure and I skimmed the last couple of sex scenes.

What worked well in particular with the plotting was the theme of cross-dressing, which managed to be sensitively handled whilst also giving an insight into why both men enjoyed that aspect of that relationship; and the May to December theme which I shall say more about below.

Characters: There's an age gap of thirty years between the characters. I have to be honest that I found that uncomfortable at times. However, the authors did a really good job of showing both the positives and the negatives of such a gap in ages and so I settled into it after a while. Jack, as you can imagine, is very sexually experienced whereas Ricky is not (although he's not a virgin). This was a wonderful thing for Ricky whom the title of the book reflects. For Ricky does bloom during the book as he discovers himself sexually, and grows as a person through the story. Jack also blooms as a result of Ricky's enthusiasm and guileless affection. I loved how careful Jack is with Ricky, how protective he is of Ricky's emotional journey, not realising that Jack himself is being slowly charmed by Ricky. For me, this was the best part of the book. I could happily have seen a number of the sex scenes cut down or removed but the scenes before the sex when the men are just talking or dating were really special and very romantic.

Overall: Despite the slight problems I had with the overall structure and a little bit too much in terms of sex/plot ratio, this was still a darned good read for me. I really liked the dynamics between the two characters and wholly believed their romance even with the very large age gap. The book mainly focuses on the romantic couple but there are other characters and I especially liked Ricky's college friends who allowed us to see Ricky away from Jack and with people his own age; and Ricky's Dad who was a great example of a supportive and loving father. The cross dressing wasn't a huge part of the book so don't let that put you off if it's not your thing but was handled well and should be a draw for those readers who like the theme. In the end I'm giving Slow Bloom a grade of 'Very Good' and would recommend it to those who like the themes or who want to read a character based romance with plenty of very hot sex.

Buy this book HERE.

Review: Cross Bones Anthology edited by Anne Regan

2011-10-19T19:41:00.000+01:00

I have to admit I approached this anthology with a certain amount of trepidation because I was convinced that nearly all the stories would be akin to Pirates of the Carribean slash. Whilst there were certainly a couple of stories which fit into that mode, and another couple which could have had their origins in Firefly fan-fic, on the whole this was a pretty good balanced mix of stories, themes and genres. I was pleasantly surprised.

There wasn't one story which I didn't find entertaining, and whilst the pirate theme was strong in all of them, they didn't slip into cliche, for which I am thankful. However, my favourite stories were the ones that came at the theme slightly sideways, where the setting may be a pirate boat, or the characters pirates, but that was incidental to the overall theme of the story.

One such story, my favourite from the anthology, was From a Simmer by B. Snow, which had as its hero, Sule, an escaped African slave who found work on a pirate ship. When the captain rescues a young man who speaks Dutch, he calls Sule to translate. Sule cannot bear the thought of conversing in the language of the slavers who took him from his homeland, and even the discovery that Olaf is Norwegian doesn't diminish the anger he feels towards the man. What I particularly liked about this story, other than its firm grounding in time and place is the way that the author portrays the anger and confusion of Sule, and his developing relationship with Olaf who stands for all that he hates. The change in Sule is gradual and wonderful to read. My only niggle was the way the author switched between present and past tense. It was all correct, but just distracting.

My second favourite story was a bittersweet story, Objectivity by K.J. Johnson, which was a modern day story. It followed journalist Matthew who is on a field assignment getting the story behind East African pirates. He's tagging along with a set of pirates captained by Achmed who he both admires and fears a great deal. What worked best for me with this story was the uneasiness of the relationship between Matthew and Achmed. Matthew is frightened of Achmed but also fiercely attracted to him too. The dust, heat and poverty of East Africa is vividly described and the whole story is very poignant and balanced in its views of the pirates. My only complaint was the rather inappropriately placed sex scene at the end, especially given that Matthew had been shot not long before and wasn't even on pain killers. Such a shame to spoil what had been a hard-hitting and memorable story.

Honorable mentions need to go to Irish Red by M.J. O'Shea and Black John by Piper Vaughn, a delightful pair of interlinked stories which told the stories of two separate but linked couples; Touched by the West Wind by Ellen Holiday which left me smiling with its tale of two young friends who find companionship and love on a pirate ship; and My Hand in Yours by Emily Moreton which had two mismatched men whose sexual relationship turns into more, leading to hard decisions.

Even those stories I haven't mentioned here were all well written and enjoyable with rounded characterisation and thoughtful, or humourous, or sexy, or tender romance themes (and sometimes all four!). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Cross Bones, with a grade of 'Very Good' to those who like pirate stories, anthologies and all those looking for an interesting and varied set of short stories.

Buy this book HERE.

Does anyone else...

2011-10-18T19:12:00.000+01:00

... talk to their book whilst they read?

I do.

I'm not talking about laughing or crying at a book which I think is pretty universal. I mean actually talking to the book, or the characters in the book. Even though they're...um...fictional and can't talk back.

Usually the talking happens when I've read something I either don't agree with or is annoying. Such as:

You idiot, why are you standing for that bullshit? He's lying to you.

or

There's no way you could even remotely be in the mood for sex now, you silly man. You were shot in the shoulder no more than half an hour ago and you're not even on pain killers.

or

Oh please, I'm drowning in sugar here.

or

You've only known him a day you can't be in love. It's just your bollocks talking.

Sometimes it's for good things though. Things like:

Aw that was nice.

or

Yes! You tell him mate.

I've noticed that the talking started after I got an electronic book reader. Possibly because I couldn't throw it across the room in disgust (or rather I could but I'd regret it). What worries me is that it seems to be getting worse and that one day I'll find myself muttering away to my book on the train. That's when the docs will be called and I'll end up in my padded cell.

This woman actually looks like a thinner version of me.
From Deviant Art

So help me out guys. Please say it's not just me who talks to my books and that I'll have company when they lock that door :).

Three is the Magic Number

2011-10-15T11:38:00.003+01:00

Today this blog is three years old - if you don't count the six month hiatus last year. Yay!

I was thinking about this the other day, especially in relation to how long I have been reading and reviewing m/m books. Three years doesn't seem a very long time, but it is in a genre as newish as m/m romance. I've sat by and watched publishers like DSP go from releasing one book and one short a week to the howevermany a week they produce now. I've seen a number of small publishers (or not so small if you count Carina Press) start up with strong m/m romance releases. I've seen new blogs/review sites start (one of them my own Brief Encounters Reviews) and other old favourites close down - I still mourn Rainbow Reviews.

More than that though I feel like a bit of an old woman when it comes to the genre. There were some m/m only review and commentary blogs before mine, such as the sadly missed Emmy or Teddy Pig, Kassa and Jessewave which are still going strong (although believe it or not Jessewave's site is only 9 months older than mine!) and of course the lovely Lisabea at Nose in a Book who was the main influence for me setting up a blog in the first place. Nowadays there are lots of sites which review m/m books and it's great to see such a huge interest in the genre. It makes me happy to be able to share thoughts, compare likes and dislikes and to get to know such a great, enthusiastic bunch of people.

Which leads me to the main reason I keep blogging and reviewing: The great friendships I've made during those three years. I never would have thought when I started blogging that I would travel half way across the globe to stay with people I've never even seen in real life. It was great to put names to faces and to find that, even though we'd never even spoken to each other, we could still all get along and have good fun together. The same goes for all the lovely people I met in Milton Keynes in July. And there are others too, who I may never meet, but who I consider a friend.

So I'm raising a glass of decent red wine to my blog today, not because of the endless hours I've spent typing up posts and reading books to review, but because of the friends I've made and will continue to keep even if I ever have to close the doors again.

Cheers!

Where am I again?

2011-10-14T14:09:00.000+01:00

I've cleverly disguised myself as the lovely Josephine Myles at DIK today.....

She looks as gorgeous as this is real life too!

..... OK, no I haven't! But Jo has graciously agreed to take my place at the DIK blog for the next two days. Today she is talking about The Inexperienced Hero which I have to admit is one of my favourite story lines.

Do pop over and say hello. Yes, even those of you currently suffering hangovers from too much partying at GayRomLit last night!