To my knowledge, RWA does not accept GLBT submissions for RITAs. Will have to hunt for where I saw it, but I distinctly remember being told that het authors can choose to not read a book, and rate it as "this isn't romance', because to them m/m romance is not. They won't even review m/m romance! Professional mags will take an author's money for ads, but glbt romances are not even eligible for review.
Anyways...prove me wrong. Prove to me that there are GLBT romances out there that are judged for RITAs. Go back as far as you wanna and find me ONE m/m romance that has been nominated in any category for the RITAs. Just one. Doesn't have to have won the category, just been one of the nominees (would that be the finals, I guess?). Will donate $200 to the charity of your choice benefitting the glbt community to the first person who can find one. Feel free to enlist other people to do the hunting for you if you haven't the time.
I've been thinking about this for a few days, and the more posts I see, the more annoyed I get.
This whole Harlequin getting into the vanity pub biz and RWA removing HQN's eligibility, and the authors who write for HQN whimpering and whining is bullshit. Yeah, and the authors who say they're so proud of how RWA took a stand against evil? You're fucktards too.
Where was all this wailing and gnashing of teeth and pulling out of hair and writing long blog posts protesting when RWA refused to allow GLBT authors to be recognized? When RWA pointed out that even if they did make GLBT books eligible for RITAs, they wouldn't be able to find anyone in their membership willing to read and judge them?
WTF with the double standard here? Why is it unfair that an author is 'being punished' by RWA for a decision their publisher made, when other authors who also write perfectly legitimate books can't get recognized either? Sucks to be part of the out crowd, dosn't it? But it was never a problem and it was never unfair until it happened to a large section of bestselling authors, rather than a small niche of relative unknowns.
Blurb: As a young gay man—and a werepanther—all Jin Rayne yearns for is a normal life. Having fled his past, he wants nothing more than to start over, but Jin’s old life doesn’t want to let him go. When his travels bring him to a new city, he crosses paths with the leader of the local were-tribe. Logan Church is a shock and an enigma, and Jin fears that Logan is both the mate he fears and the love of his life. Jin doesn't want to go back to the old ways, and mating would irrevocably tie him to them.
But Jin is the mate Logan needs at his side to help him lead his tribe, and he won't give Jin up so easily. It will take time and trust for Jin to discover the joy in belonging to Logan and how to love without restraint.
Bottom line up front:
Finally! A book from DSP that was a well-paced, delicious read. And it had a very pretty cover.
The rest:
Jin is a werepanther who was rather rudely exiled from his birth pack by none other than his own father. Sadly, daddy dearest couldn't have just issued a polite "feel free to leave" after Jin came out to the pack. Oh, no. Instead, he and the rest of the pack stripped Jin naked and beat him until they thought he was dead, then dragged his carcass behind a vehicle to the middle of nowhere and left him there. Luckily for Jin, his best friend since forever, Crane, saved his life and the two ran away together.
The two friends randomly wander from town to town, doing odd jobs. Their relative anonymity came to an abrupt halt when they save the sister of one of the local pack leaders. Jin meets the guy, finds out that he's the mate that he's always avoided, and spends the rest of the story going back and forth between needing his independence and wanting to belong.
Jin is absolutely darling. He's got the usual hangups of a young gay man who was rather unceremoniously kicked out of the only life he'd ever knows. Despite this, he worked, and was just a pleasure to follow along. There were some pack dynamics that were a bit fuzzy. We're told Jin is this thing called a reah, which is supposedly rare and valuable, but I'm not sure I understood what the heck a reah is supposed to do, exactly. Jin seemed to just have a charisma booster that made everyone like him. His responsibilities within the pack were a bit evocative of what an omega would do, but although the fact that he *had* responsibilities was mentioned several times, he didn't actually do anything that I could see, and what his tasks were or should have been weren't clearly delineated.
I didn't quite buy a few bits in the story in relation to the mating with Logan. As typical with were animals of any type, their society was generally het. It was unusual for any werepanther to be gay. Logan himself was straight, and was in fact in the process of marrying the sister of another local pack leader when Jin came along. Still, Logan went right into rimming and sucking Jin off with nary a blink, shrugging it all off under the oft repeated phrase of "well, we're mates". That's nice, but Gay For You isn't my favorite trope, and it stretches the bounds of what I'm willing to believe to have a guy play hooky at his own engagement party to a woman to stick his tongue up some guy's ass.
Still, I was intrigued by the Egyptian mythology themes interwoven throughout the story, and the alternate civilization built on worship of Bast, my favorite Goddess of them all. The secondary characters were all sharply painted, and contributed to what was an overall compelling story.
I thought I was all were'd out, but I very much enjoyed Change of Heart, and can only hope that it's the fabulous start of a new favorite series by a new-to-me author. Calmes is the first author I've read in recent memory who is tempting me to do a little research and glom the backlist, if one exists.
Get your copy here.
Take a look at the cover for this Ellora's Cave book and tell me what you think it's about:
Nekkid girl, nekkid man, both snuggled up with dude's arms wrapped around girl....must be het romance, right?
WRONG!
Here's the synopsis:
It’s Natalie’s ten-year high school reunion and she’s reluctantly joined the planning committee. Things start to look up, though, when she finds that Haley Moore is on the committee—and she’s even more gorgeous than Natalie remembered.
OMFG , is f/f! False advertising, to say the least.
To the amazing Army nurses and medics I work with now...
To everyone in uniform out there in the litter box of Iraq and Afghanistan fighting a useless and likely endless battle...
To everyone who has served in the past....
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE TO YOUR COU
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Blurb:In the dual-gendered realm of Ylandre, the great divide between the high-born True Bloods and the lower-ranked Half Bloods is deemed impassable by most. Rohyr Essendri dared to cross it when he took young Lassen Idana from his provincial town and made him his paramour. Lassen perforce learned how to navigate the intricate byways of life at court. What he never expected, however, was to fall in love with Rohyr, a most inadvisable and impractical thing to do when one’s lover is sovereign ruler of the land. But anything worth having is worth fighting for, both figuratively and, as Lassen discovers, literally speaking.
Bottom line up front:
I read mpreg. And, to my everlasting shock, I absolutely loved this book.
The rest:
I got this book specifically because I like the cover, and not because I did anything smart like read the blurb or the disclaimer or anything that normal people would do. Dang Anne Cain and her breathtaking art. Because of her, I randomly pulled a book off my TBR pile in a fit of boredom, and read it with absolutely no preconceived notions as to the content. This is not a book I would have bought, never mind read, otherwise. Just not my bag, yanno? Another rare occasion when I would have missed out on something wonderful.
My first clue that shit was about to go wrong was the prologue. It starts with the current king sitting at the bedside of a very ill woman, who shortly passes away. This woman wasn't family to the king, or even known to him. He just kinda showed up because she was THE LAST WOMAN BORN TO THEIR RACE. And she just died, having never married or had children. My mind sort of leaped ahead to images of extinction, or some sort of alien race coming in with females to interbreed or something. In the meantime, Chapter 1 is upon me.
Fast forward some two thousand years into the future, and we meet young Lassen. Young being subjective here, and Lassen is twenty-six. In this world, people (and by people, I mean men, since that's all that's left) age quite slowly. Thirty is the age of majority, forty is the age when making babies tends to happen, and the average lifespan is one hundred twenty or so. By comparison, twenty-six is young.
Anyways, the pretty and inquisitive young darling is on his way with the rest of his small town to await the emissaries of the Ardan, or king. The elders of the town have asked the Ardan for protection against incursions from a neighboring country. They are surprised when the Ardan, Rohyr, shows up. Surprise turns to shock when Rohyr agrees to provide protection for the town, but at a price. Rohyr had seen Lassen in the crowd, and asked to be given the young man in exchange for his protection. Seems a little weird that a king would want an underaged piece of ass in exchange for protecting a small town in the middle of nowhere, but what are convenient plot devices for, if not convenience?
Lassen gets given away to be the sexual playtoy of the king and goes to live in the capital city. He quickly falls in love with the smart and considerate Rohyr. Life is happy happy so much joy for a good decade. All that happy joy comes to an end when Rohyr is forced into a political marriage to his cousin, who predictably doesn't want Lassen around. Tyrde (I pronounced it 'turd', because he was one), the new...queen?...quickly hatches a plan to get rid of Lassen once and for all. Poor Lassen is left fighting for his love and his life.
The characterization and world building in Sacred Fate was just stunning. There was the occasional too much info dump, but for the most part readers got a good sense of the universe being presented without having to resort to maps and a history lesson. The characters that we were supposed to like were likable and relatable, and even the bad guys had a few redeeming qualities to make them seem more like good people gone wrong. This is one of those dense stories, where so much happens in the space of a few short paragraphs and pages. Even though the book was only some 160 pages long (yeah, don't let the 'plus novel' label fool you), it felt like it was much longer in a really good way. I was very much invested in the outcome.
The mpreg...you know, just the thought of it has squicked me something fierce in the past. The characters in this story are hermaphrodites, possessed of both male and female sexual characteristics. However, they're all identified as male, and it's a male society they live in. There's a choice whether to breed or not, and a wine that can be taken for contraception. Like most m/m stories, the sex here was mostly anal, and the times that it wasn't anal were very glossed over and faded to black quickly. Because the two main characters were very male, I didn't get the feeling that either was taking on a feminine role, and the pregnant parts just didn't bother me at all. I kept waiting to get uncomfortable, if not actually nauseous, but it never happened. Even pregnancy was sort of a natural progression of a loving relationship, and again, it wasn't dwelt upon ad nauseum.
The only time things could have gone icky for me was in the description of how the guys gave birth. It wasn't vaginally, and vagina was never mentioned by name anyways. It was swords and sheathes and seed pouches and seed channels. Babies came through the stomach, in a sort of Alien-ish explosion of...oh here's the part in the book:
His eyes drifted down to his abdomen. There was no sign as yet that he was breeding. That would not be obvious until the end of the fourth month of the half-year gestation period. Only then would his belly begin to swell enough to require looser clothing.
He traced the faint horizontal line that ran under his navel, almost a shade darker
than his skin. The birthing seam began to show a fortnight ago. It would continue to
darken in color, its thickness gradually diminishing as the time of birthing drew near before finally and naturally splitting open to permit the babe to emerge.
And what they gave birth to was more of an egg than anything:
Through the haze of exhaustion, he saw...their son, securely ensconced
in his natal shell. The shell looked like half the cooked white of an egg. No longer smeared with blood and birthing fluid, it was dark beige, its opaque surface streaked with the faintest traces of what looked like bluish veins.
[He] gaped when he saw the tiny infant cradled in its cushiony center, the faintly pulsing pale rose birth cord trailing across his belly to disappear into the folds of the shell surface. He had never seen a newborn fresh from the womb. It was the custom to keep days-old babies indoors and away from nonfamily members until the shell came off.
Despite his miniscule size, the child was completely formed. And judging from the
strength of his flailing arms and legs, healthy as well. The natal shell would protect him and provide nourishment until he was able to suckle. Whereupon the desiccated shell and cord would naturally detach.
Odd, but not enough to set off any squick alarms. Kinda cute, actually.
Sacred Fate is the first book I've read by this author. I was very much impressed by this intriguing, engrossing tale. The cover says 'Chronicles of Ylandre, Book One'. I cannot wait to see what's next.
Really, just go get your copy here. You'll like it. Promise.
That's...not sexy to me. Unless I'm actively in a scene, I don't want to be hit, and would be really pissed if someone thought it was cute or funny to start smacking me around mid stroke.
Why is spanking so popular in m/m romance, do you think?
- Mood:
contemplative
I need a place to rant/whine/be randomly emo about shit that has nothing to do with m/m books. It's locked to friends only. Feel free to friend if you want to listen to me bitch about life in general.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
nurse_emmy ( heck no, it ain't SFW )
What do you guys think??
- Mood:
amused
That is all.
My favorite part, aside from the whole concept of bats and oral sex? This:
Intriguingly, the female lowered her head to lick the male penis during 14 of 20 copulations recorded on video. The licking typically went on for some 19 seconds, or roughly one-twelfth the average time of copulation. The male never withdrew from the female when she performed fellatio.
Fuck me if that doesn't sound like a scene from a Lora Leigh book!
But then I got to thinking...well, why not? I would totally give $500 to any m/m author (because SO not interested in girl cooties) who can work that scene into a book and sell it. For reals. If you're stuck on your NaNo WIP, here's your push, lol.
ETA: Because I'm surrounded by smart assed fuckers...
1) Bats. Like shifty mammal bats of any sub-type that naturally occurs in the wild..vampire, fruity, whatevs. No Batman costumes or dudes prancing in pleather and playtex.
2)Sell. To a publisher. Who will then publish your book. Writing some crap that you give to your play partner/ fuck buddy/ spouse/ circle jerk team member for 50 cents does NOT count as a sell.
3)M/M only. No girl cooties or fag hags with a rabies fetish.
4)No other rules, because rules are boring and make my ADD twitch.
*winces* Really, Adam? Someone told you this was a good idea? And you believed them?
Several authors are reporting on Twitter that their titles have disappeared. Since my flist is primarily m/m authors, I don't know if this extends to het as well, or if B&N is pulling a censorship fail of Amazon proportions.
Here's to hoping it's a software glitch. Speculation is running rampant, from rumors that B&N is deleting books by authors who don't have a B&N buy link on their website, to they're getting rid of all ebooks not in epub format, because that's the preferred format for their new Nook reader.
Lemme know in comments if your stuff went bye bye.
Blurb:Zac Mitchell and Bryce Tellier were best friends for the first two years of college, but things got complicated their junior year. Their senior year isn't looking to get any easier. Zac is out with a bang, featured in a magazine article on queer college athletes. Bryce didn't have a clue, but now Zac's revelation is shattering his world, making him question everything he thinks he knows, making him wonder if he'll manage to keep things together.
Bryce's father wants him out of the house he shares with Zac and two other friends, doesn't want him around someone like Zac. Bryce has spent years ducking his brothers' accusations about his sexuality. Now, Bryce has to decide where he stands, and he has to face how Zac makes him feel. Zac spent years working up the courage to come out and now he might have to go back in the closet to be with the person he wants most. Nothing seems right when Zac and Bryce part, so can these boys make their relationship work?
Bottom line up front:
There was crying. Lots of it. Bryce was slinging snot through pretty much the whole story. I hate crying guys, really I do. So why did I love this book so much?
The rest:
Zac and one of his room mates, Perry, came out during Zac's junior year. For the rest of the year, things were a bit strained between him and his best friend, Bryce. Summer is over and they're going into their senior year. Not wanting another awkward year, and missing his best friend, Zac determines to clear the air between them. Somehow, that clearing the air ended up with him falling in love with his best friend and having to fight all year to try to get Bryce to calm the heck down and just be his boyfriend.
Bryce the Emo Swimmer was raised in a family where his father dictates everything and the sons sort of fall in line. He had the misfortune of not only being born last, but also being named after a formerly favored uncle who later came out. Because of this, he endured years of cruel taunts from his older and more assholic (is that a word?) brothers about how Bryce was somehow automatically gay.
Now poor Bryce is seriously screwed in the head and had almost daily breakdowns and panic attacks because kissing was great. Then touching the naughty bits felt good. Then he started crying because sticking his boy bits into somebody's bum was zomg!amazing. And after that, Zac made an offhand comment about maybe sometime in the distant future returning the favor and putting fingers and cocks in Bryce's ass, which set him off again. In between all this, Bryce has multiple mini anxiety attacks after a phone call from his father. His controlling dad read Zac's interview about being a gay athlete in a magazine and now wants Bryce to move out. Preferably before his speshul snowflake son is tainted by the gay germs.
Many of Bryce's internal conversations were some variation of this one:
He was serious about Zac, and he didn’t know how serious Zac was about him. He didn’t want to seem like a girl, getting all emotional about taking the step to fucking, getting emotional about dating and being together. He hated what a loser he was and kept cramming it down inside and hoping no one noticed.
Despite my almost instinctive and virulent dislike of long, drawn out pity parties, I found myself drawn to Bryce as a character, and empathizing with the situation he was in. There was a man whom he cared deeply for, and he genuinely wanted to explore that relationship to see where it went. On the other hand, his father was paying his tuition and housing expenses while he was in college. After college, Bryce was expecting to work for his father. He already knew that his father would react negatively to any declaration of love for another man. His father, after all, disowned his own brother after the guy came out. Bryce had every reasonable expectation that the same thing would happen to him. It's senior year of college, and Bryce had no way to support either himself or his boyfriend if the funds got cut off. All that aside, Bryce actually liked his asshole brothers and controlling father.
It hurt. Even if he wanted to come out, he couldn’t. Not until he was ready to give up his family. Fucked up as they were, they were still his family. And Zac. It felt like he was saying Zac wasn’t worth it. How was he supposed to compare?
While Zac and Bryce are involved in a hot and heavy relationship, neither is precisely gay either. Zac would more accurately be described as bi. Bryce very vaguely referred to situations in the past where he might have had a glimmer of attraction for other males, but rather ruthlessly suppressed it for fear of being booted out of his family and disowned like his uncle. There was a scene where Bryce had pity sex with an ex-girlfriend, and enjoyed it as much as he ever had.
Becoming Us is a deeply emotional story about a guy who was in a no win situation, and had to think long and hard about the choice he was about to make. There is no easy way out, and the consequences of picking either road were essentially untenable. I found myself deeply immersed in Bryce's struggle and, although I wasn't crying along with him, I certainly understood his frustration and need to vent.
The writing duo of Crow and Fox provide deep, thought provoking stories that interest and enthrall. This book was a refreshing change from fluffy stories of pretty boys rubbing off on each other, and will be crying it's way onto the keeper shelf. I highly recommend this book...but save it for when you're not already emotionally drained, because this book will pull it out of you.
As an odd side note...the story is actually rated chile pepper on TQ's ridiculous rating for the heat of books. I thought the sex scenes were holy wow smoking hot, but what the heck do I know??
Get your copy here.
Yes, you too can color cunts. Get your book from Amazon today!!!
Blurb:Justin falls for Kevin the instant they pass each other on a sidewalk. Only, Kevin’s not gay. The higher ups at Kevin’s company are gay, however, and Kevin’s accidental meeting with Justin gives him an idea how to get around his controlling female supervisor. If he can gain access to the top men at an exclusive gay club, he might be able to finally share his ideas.
Justin instantly agrees to be his date, despite the obvious heartbreak that’s headed his way for going out with a straight man. At the club, Kevin gets a chance to meet the company owner, Victor Chen, and the man seems interested… both in his ideas and his date.
Kevin can’t deny his attraction to Justin, but he’s not gay. Right? He should step aside and let Justin have a chance to date Victor, who’s gorgeous, rich, and shares Justin’s interest in fashion. Despite his internal struggles, he really wants to explore their growing bond. Justin is certainly game, but a part of him knows they can’t have a future together...can they?
Bottom line up front:
This incredibly charming and tongue-in-cheek story with the usually dreaded Gay For You plot has gone a long way in restoring my faith in Jet Mykles after the last few bombs she released.
The rest:
Kevin is a super sexy computer geek with some really great product ideas for things he wants to implement at the company he works for. Problem is, his boss scuttles everything the team comes up with and blocks access to the higher ups so nobody can go over her head. Desperate to be heard, Kevin comes up with a crazy idea: go to a gay club his bosses frequent and pitch his ideas to them in person.
Kevin isn't gay, but it just so happens that some cute nut job stopped him on the street earlier and declared undying love for him. Coincidentally, the cute nut job works at a men's clothing store near his own job. And even more coincidentally (there's alot of convenient shiyt happening in this book), Kevin has an invite to go to this very exclusive gay club the big bosses like to party at. He begs Justin to pretend to be his boyfriend so he can get his break with the company. Justin agrees, and the two go out.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Kevin really gets to liking Justin, and starts having X-rated fantasies about the guy. There's lots of internal angsting happening, because Kevin isn't gay, and has never even been attracted to another guy. In fact, he's still attracted to women. So why is he getting jealous when his boss, Victor, starts flirting with Justin, and then goes all out to try to poach what he thinks is his employee's boyfriend?
Justin had me rolling my eyes and giggling from first meeting until the end of the book. Starting out incredibly flamboyant, he did thankfully get toned down slightly as the story progressed. Still, his initial approach to Kevin was just hilarious:
Justin raced back down the sidewalk, nearly spilling his coffee in his rush to catch up to a wet dream come to life. He almost ran over a guy on Rollerblades and just avoided getting wrapped up in a microdog's leash, but he finally made it to the vision's side. He reached out to wrap a hand around an arm.It is Justin who carried the story and kept me from wanting to knock Kevin's head against a stone wall with a clue by four. Repeatedly.
“I've just fallen in love with you,” Justin declared, cradling his coffee cup to his chest as he kept hold on the vision's arm. “What is your name, and please tell me you're gay?”
“Justin!” Frank caught up with him, grabbing the wrist of the hand that had a grip on the vision's arm. Frank tugged, but Justin wouldn't let go. “Justin, please, you're annoying the nice man.”
Justin blinked at the dumbstruck object of his attention as the breeze puffed a lock of shiny dark hair across the man's brow. “Nice man, please tell me your name so I know who to dream about tonight.”
There were some very contrived plot points that strained credulity and stopped just short of being completely ridiculous. Several events were rather neatly laid out in a way that allowed the characters to be in certain places at specific times in a way that was amazingly convenient to the story arc, but not terribly plausible.
However, as a whole, Just for You was an irreverent, cheeky story that was extremely fun to read. A delightful surprise from an author who used to be an autobuy, but hit a rough patch with a few stories that sucked fuzzy rocks. I'm pleased that Jet has written a story that reminded me why I've enjoyed her writing so throughout many years and books. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written and -paced, entertaining read.
Get your copy here.
Blurb:Jareth needs to find a new bodyguard and food source, as his last one came to an untimely end during a failed assassination attempt. Mayhem Inc. comes highly recommended, and what Jareth finds there is something better than he ever thought he’d get. From the moment Jareth is introduced to Liron, mutual attraction ignites, but can Liron be able to feed all of Jareth's needs, from blood to bed to bodyguard?
Bottom line up front:
Deeee. Ennnnn. Efffffff. I don't do kiddie pr0n, or long involved discussions about six-year-olds getting raped. This story was just not for me. Ugh.
The rest:
Liron is a bodyguard for hire at Mayhem, Inc. He was once a royal guard for a crown prince, but said prince fell in love and abdicated his throne. I'm not quite sure what to make of Liron. He's seven-odd-foot tall, has a seventeen foot batwing span, and can shapeshift into various animals.
Liron is hired to be the bodyguard to Jareth, a millenia old vampire who ran afoul of a spoiled Empress with a fatal attraction. In fact, the last bodyguard went boom along with Jareth's spaceship when the Empress' thugs caught up to Jareth and detonated his ship.
A contract gets signed, there's a mutual attraction, and the two are off on an adventure. A little weird, what with the whole space opera/ fantasy/ paranormal vibe. I even laughed a bit when Jareth gets turned on and his fangs descend and it's referred to as an 'oral erection', but the story didn't start too badly. Then Jareth had to fugg it up by asking Liron about his past.
"I was three when my family was attacked by bandits whileOk, that sucks. I'm feeling all sympathetic for Liron, a character I'd already decided I liked. But the bastard didn't. Stop. Talking. He really could have left his backstory at that, as is typical of many stories. Kid gets abducted and is sold to a harem. We all know what happens at harems, so there's no need to go further, is there?
traveling on a diplomatic mission. I was the only survivor
of the attack."
Jareth nodded as he watched me intently. I got the feeling that he was memorizing everything I was telling him.
"Searchers found the bodies of my parents and servants after several weeks, and I’m told that the authorities searched for me for nearly six months before they were forced to assume I was carried off by wild-life and eaten. In actuality, the bandits took me and sold me to a public harem in Vickles.
Apparently there was.
"The harem treated me fairly well. I was considered a
pretty child and the owners saw my potential and their
profits right from the beginning. When I was six, they
began my training."
Ok, you're sliding into TMI territory. Surely he'll end his story and we can get on with the romantic part of this romance book? Yeah, no.
"What kind of training could they give you at six years
old?" Jareth asked with a narrowing of his eyes.
"Sexual. I was taught how to pleasure men and women
orally as well as manually," I said simply.
OMGWTF???????? Now was that really necessary? And to make it worse, the character goes on to explain that was really commonplace in his culture, and his being so adept at the oral skills being the source of much honor and pride to himself and much money to his pimps. As Liron goes on to explain:
"[The harem] catered to a wide variety of tastes. At the time, I didn’t see anything wrong with it as I wasn’t the only child there get this instruction. It’s not like I was penetrated at that age."
And because my stomach wasn't already flipping over and twisting in on itself, the story just kept GOING.
"At the age of ten, they sold my virginity twice. Once to a male patron and once to a female patron.There was more after this, but my Sony did that thing where it flies full speed at the wall.
I deleted the book off both my reader and my computer. I rarely delete books from my computer. The really sucky stories end up in some obscure file somewhere. This one? GONE.
I'm incredibly disappointed, because I loved Blind Desire so. I rather optimistically hoped that this story would be made of the same awesome, and it just...wasn't. Go forth and read Blind Desire if you haven't already, then go to the author's LJ and flip through some of the fics. But unless you like short stories that include little kids being taught oral, skip Slave to the Blood.
Blurb: Nick Carlyle understands the intricacies of his job better than anyone. He lives to crunch those numbers and his skills are valued throughout the company. If his personal life might be lacking, he doesn't notice, especially whenever he steals a harmless glance or two at Riley Jameson's tight body. But he's the boss, and that means look but don't touch.
When a universal flu shot is developed, it's hailed as a miracle, and rightly so. But the seemingly harmless side effects begin to change the world, warping the statistics that Nick's always used to guide him through life. Everything he thought he knew is suddenly upside down.
No one changes as much as Riley. Suddenly the young man is bigger, stronger. He's also aggressive in ways Nick isn't prepared for, and for the first time analyzing the numbers does nothing to help the situation.
Now, his numbers only add up when it comes to Riley.
Bottom line up front:
I Am Legend meets The Incredible Hulk, but the vaccine isn't killing anyone, and with a neurotic whiny little thing who perseverates on his height instead of an actual hero.
The rest:
Nick lives in a world where flu shots actually work more than thirty percent of the time. Not only that, but 99.5% of population experienced some sort of genetic mutation wherein people spontaneously grew an average of four inches. The other 0.5% suffered some sort of regression and shrank by the same four inches.
Nick lives in a world where flu shots actually work more than thirty percent of the time. Not only that, but 99.5% of population experienced some sort of genetic mutation wherein people spontaneously grew an average of four inches. The other 0.5% suffered some sort of regression and shrank by the same four inches.
Most people ran out and got the shot when they heard of the miraculous side effect, but Nick, who has to be one of the most pessimistic characters ever, refrains because of that 0.5% chance of shrinkage. However, once everyone else in the office goes out to get the shot and all end up taller than him, he finally bites the bullet and gets the needle poke.
Ok, so the future has advanced enough to create an injection that not only prevents disease but makes people more aesthtically pleasing, and they STILL couldn't come up with a way to deliver it that doesn't include needles? The future isn't looking very bright, all things considered.
Be that as it may, Nick's incessant griping ended up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, and he became one of the 0.5% of the population that actually got shorter. He spends the weekend at home obsessively measuring himself every few minutes, all the while mentally running through statistics that say that shorter people earn 3% less than their peers.
Riley, the non-green Hulk-type character, started out a perky 5'8". Nick has been attracted to him since the younger man was first hired to the department, and Riley has been very subtly flirting with his boss. After receiving his flu shot, he gained what seemed to be a foot while his muscles visibly grew just by breathing. There were several instances in the story where he showed up to work with clothes that fit perfectly, only to have the seams shred shortly after an encounter with Nick. There was even a scene where his boy bits somehow chewed their way out of a pair of jeans. Owwie?
Everyone's height is described in excructiating detail, far past the point of annoyoance. Nick focused on his height until everything else ceased to matter and I ceased to care. When Nick finally got over himself and got on with life, the story actually became quite good. Sadly, ninety pages had already passed by then, leaving a scant thirty or so to provide enjoyment.
Overall, the writing here has improved greatly from the last story I read by this author. I didn't completely hate the book, and while the story got almost interminably stuck on height, One Shot finished strongly. Add this one to the TBR pile, and read it when you've got absolutely nothing else to do.
Get your copy here.
Anyways, there's this interesting list of things your child's teacher won't tell you, and some of them I really wish weren't true but are.
A few of my faves:
5. The truth is simple: Your kid will lie to get out of trouble.
11. Parents give their kids the pricey gadgets and labels, but what kids really crave is for you to talk to them. They want to know you are interested in their lives.
17. We wish parents would make their kids own up to their actions instead of pressuring us to bend the rules.
18. Please stop doing everything for your child and allow them to make mistakes. How else will they learn? Kids are not motivated to succeed because they feel their parents will bail them out every time.
#18 is a rule to live by in my house. I tell the bratling that I back him 100% on all his decisions...but he and he alone will deal with the consequences of those decisions with no intervention from me whatsoever. I am not and will not become his enabler. Ever. I'm a fan of tough love. I'm a parent, not my son's best friend. He can hate me when he grows up, but dammit he WILL be a successful human being if I have to drag it out of him with fish hooks.
That is all :P
HAPPY BERFDAY, REECE!!!!!!!!!!!
WHO DOES THIS???? I mean, outside of Nifty writers, that is...
see more Epic Fails
Feel free to disagree with me. I don't need a flippin cheerleading team, and a healthy debate is always interesting. But pretty please wank on your own blog.
This is on my user info page, which some people obviously can't be bothered to read, so I'm doing my annual reminder here:
MY BLOG - MY OPINION! These entries are NOT an open invitation to argue with me. If you don't like what I have to say, so what? Go bitch on your own blog. You're entitled to your opinion, but that doesn't mean "I" have to listen to it. Just as YOU don't have to read my blog if you don't like what it says.
Okay? Okay.
Blurb:Mack and Justin grew up together and were best friends for years, until one day that friendship turned into something hotter and more powerful than either man had ever experienced before. A passionate coupling that branded each man forever—or so Mack thought, until the dreaded day after. That’s when Justin told Mack the whole thing didn’t mean anything to him, and walked away from Mack’s promises of forever.
Mack has never been able to get past that one traumatic event in his life. A dozen years have passed without a word from Justin. But when that red-haired devil reappears, Mack finds out that he can’t resist giving in to his body’s needs—no matter what his head tells him.
Two stubborn, determined alpha males—one nursing a twelve-year fury and the other with a redhead's temper—who have been denied what they want most for so many years, come together in an explosion of heat and passion that overrides everything else in their lives. Now, if only Mack and Justin can keep their hands, and other body parts, off each other long enough to talk, they might be able to get to the truth behind what happened twelve years ago…and while they're doing it, they might just have some luck breaking the devil.
Bottom line up front:
What. The. Fuck. My hands were inching towards the spork from page one. I mean...jayzus!!
The rest:
Twelve years ago, Justin left Mack after one night of smexing. Mack hasn't seen hide nor hair of the guy since. Oddly, he's still pretty upset about it all over a decade later, too.
So please to be explaining why, when Justin literally pops up out of nowhere, did the two spend the first third of the book banging like bunnies? No 'Hi, how are you", for "Where the frick have you been?". Nope. Just fingers and tongues sliding up rosy assholes before the bigger stuff got tossed in for fun.
I say again...wtf?
When the two finally stop shooting off every few seconds- and boy, did these guys have a two minute recovery time- and finally got around to talking, Mack abruptly turns into a sniveling, whimpering, snot-slinging little girl. A squeaky one at that. Kid you not, the guy actually referred to himself as a squeaky little girl. Twice.
I say again...wtf?
And to top off the tears and superfluous banging, the author clean ran out of words for the squeaky little girl to shriek and instead had Mack howl "jayzus!" no less than twenty-one times in only sixty-six pages.
This book hit the wall hard. I've not read any stories by this author before, and have absolutely no intention of doing so again in the near future.
You can get a copy of this here. I'm not suggesting you do that, however.
Ok, so I was watching Bridge to Terabithia with the bratling today (great book, so-so movie), and during the commercial break, this ad for Tickle Hands comes up. These are basically a pair of fuzzy glove with a built in vibrator and Elmo's maniacal laughter.My brain immediately slid sideways into adult applications. I mean, they're furry gloves that *vibrate*! Made of cotton, so machine washable. You won't have to worry about the fur getting all...matted or whatever.
If you don't mind Elmo laughing his ass off while you rub one out, they could be kinda fun.
Extra points for any author who can work them into a scene, lol.I'm just sayin.
Blurb:Eric doesn’t know where else to turn when his daughter is kidnapped, so he calls on his powerful ex-lover, Brock. Brock never expected to hear from Eric again, but he never got over the man, either. When Eric comes to him to help find the three-year-old Josie, there's no way Brock can turn him down. He has the money and the contacts Eric needs, and he can't let Eric walk out of his life again. Not after all these years.
Brock has no idea what he's letting himself in for. Together, Eric and Josie turn Brock's world upside down while they work with police and private security to find the people who took Josie, and to keep Eric and Josie safe while they do. Even as they get to know each other again, Brock has to fight the feelings he still has for Eric, at least for time being, which just makes it all that much harder. Can Eric and Brock find out who wants to hurt them before it's too late, or will Brock fall off his pedestal as Eric's hero?
Bottom line up front:
Cute and engaging, this is one of the better Sean Michael books I've read in a long while. And, quelle shocker, it isn't even pornolicious!
The rest:
What, is it Hook Up With Old Boyfriend week? This is the first of two books I read in as many days featuring blasts from the past. I shoulda stopped at this one, cuz the other book...but that's a whole other review.
Eric and Brock had a thing going some nine years ago. However, Brock was on the high-powered career fast track, while Eric was more of a homebody who wanted the white picket fence and the kids. Assuming their goals were completely separate, Eric breaks it off with Brock and heads on over to China to buy a baby. Errr...adopt. Life is fairly mediocre for both in the intervening years. Both continued to pine for the other, but neither bothered to pick up the phone.
That changes when Eric's daughter, a delightful ball of energy named Josie, is kidnapped. Eric finds a rather badly written ransom letter on his car, and his daughter was removed from daycare without his permission. Not having the hundred grand demanded in the ransom letter, a panicked Eric turned to the one man he knew who did: his old flame, Brock.
Although they'd neither seen nor spoken to each other in over nine years, Brock is rather conveniently single and willing to let bygones be bygones to help Eric get his daughter back. He calls in his personal security company to investigate and negotiate for Josie's return.
When Eric becomes injured, Brock nurses his old love back to health, and along the way finds out some very interesting information. Not the least of which is that the two have always been in love with each other and should never have broken up in the first place.
Unlikely Hero has to be near the top of the list of most plot driven stories I've read from Sean Michael. The large majority of Michael's stories tend to revolve around the sex and are incredibly pornolicious. That particular trademark style was nowhere to be found here, possibly because there aren't too many readers out there who would accept what amounts to soft porn when a child features as a prominent character. Instead, the focus is on the relationship between the two MC's, and how having a child tends to complicate one's life in rather unexpected- but not necessarily unwelcome- ways.
I only had one real skeptical moment when a cop who fired back after being fired upon- and several people in the area were shot and wounded- and ended up being dismissed from the force with what seemed to be little or no real investigation. Police tend to be a rather insular group, and I just couldn't see that happening, particularly in light of the surrounding circumstances. However, because the incident involved a minor character who might possibly pop up again in his own book, I didn't spend too much time agonizing over it.
The interactions between the two main characters were engrossing and entertaining. Josie herself rather stole a great deal of the limelight from her father and his ex-boyfriend. Her loquacious dialogue struck me as unbelievably articulate for a three-year-old, but mildly plausible as the daughter of a teacher. For the most part, she spoke similarly to the adults in the story, with pronunciations predictably altered to signify a younger age (ie: 'wibs' vs 'ribs').
Overall, I found Unlikely Hero to be a highly diverting read. I won't be adding it to the keeper file, but I know fans of Michael's work will enjoy the story. I also think many who have stayed away from reading a Michael book because of the porn aspect would find this a stimulating, refreshing read.
Buy your copy here.
Happy day after birthday to
reno_macleod . Hope your hangover is light and all your And a big happy birthday to
savannahchase on her....21st birthday. Or something *g*.The subject of heterosexual women writing gay romance for other straight women has come up in multiple ways across multiple forums. I'm not entirely comfortable with women using male pseuds when writing gay romance, mostly because I tend to believe they're only doing it because they think it will boost sales. How true that is- the reason or the sales boost- I'm not sure. I will say that I adore books by authors like Jet Mykles and JL Langley, two straight female authors who write some smokin hot m/m stories. I would prefer that everyone be themselves and let the readers decide what it is they want to buy without the authors having to resort to subterfuge.
Despite this, I'm still more than a little disappointed that the Lambda Literary Foundation has changed their guidelines to exclude the het authors in the crowd from being nominated for an award. I'm even more perturbed when the explanation for the new policy includes inanities such as:
We also took into consideration the despair of our own writers when a heterosexual writer, who has written a fine book about us, wins a Lambda Award, when one or more of our own LGBT writers may have as a Finalist a book that may be the only chance in a career at a Lambda Literary Award.
We take the nomination of any book at face value: if the book is nominated as LGBT, then the author is self-identifying as part of our LGBT family of writers, and that is all that is required
So....because actual gay authors aren't writing the books that are wildly popular, LLF is going to re-draw the playing field to give the rest of the class a chance to win what has now become a meaningless award?
The post goes on to mention how difficult it is for LGBT authors to get published or have a real presence in the publishing world. I get that, really I do. I empathize. It pisses me off to no end that RWA and RITA refuse to recognize LGBT books in their awards programs, and that judges won't even read a m/m story. Because of this, I have chosen to not associate with those entities: I don't go to nationals, and I don't comment on blogs mentioning the various awards.
But, LLF, reverse discrimination is not the way to go here. You cannot make an argument for inclusion and then proceed to have a retaliatory exclusionary award to make your happy little group feel better about themselves.
I support the authors who have chosen to not submit their book(s) for a Lammie this year 100%.
Yaoi fans will recognize the name of Yamila Abraham. I've got a few of her stories lying about in the TBR pile, including the Winter Demon series, shown here.I saw what looked like some really random remarks on Twitter late night, stating that she had been arrested on drug charges O.O. I thought it was a joke, until she posted a reply on her blog.
O shiyt!
But apparently she'll still be making appearances at various places, so if you wanna meet someone who may not be around for a while, now may be the time to head on over and say hi.
If convicted, Abraham faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each mail fraud count, up to one year in prison and a $250,000 fine on the drug misbranding count, and up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the introduction of goods into commerce by false statements count. The Government also seeks forfeiture of properties of the defendant from the proceeds of the crimes of up to $186,680, as well as 20,000 tablets of DXM and any equipment used by the defendant to make counterfeit drugs, Brower said.
Anyways, I had a twit moment as an early teen and read those Sweet Valley High books. Imagine my surprise this morning when I find out that Diablo Cody is adapting a screenplay. Oy! Could go either which way. Juno was amazing, but Jennifer's Body? No interest in seeing that at all. Or Megan Fox's body, which is what the movie really seems to be about. Ugh.
Any SVH fans out there looking forward to the movie?
Go forth and play while I work.
Blurb:Jonas Vaneau's life seems ordinary, with days working at law courts and evenings at home with his cat, plus countless Sabbath dinners with his parents and an endless string of potential brides. Meanwhile, an unusual encounter with seemingly ordinary brothel client Jonas causes Micah Hartshorn considerable consternation. When Jonas inexplicably bursts past his emotional defenses, Micah can't even fall back on his professional skills to help him.
The attraction between Micah and Jonas grows, despite their misgivings. As they grow closer, all personal problems are swept up in political unrest when new laws threaten both men's livelihoods. When even greater troubles send Jonas' world spinning beyond his control, it's up to Micah to save Jonas from the downward spiral if he can.
Bottom line up front:
The book started slow, had a very interesting middle, and finished...oddly.
The rest:
Jonas is a stuttering, bumbling law journeyman who is rather firmly under his parent's thumb despite his being thirty-four. He's gay, or mahev as it's called in the story. Being gay seems to have been generally accepted in this world, but a group of university professors- headed by Jonas' father- are trying to get legislation enacted to ban all mahevi from being employed. Considering the number of mahevi in their particular area, that would have enormous economic impact. Not that anyone lobbying for this ban on gayness seemed to particularly care.
Not having a bang buddy to play with, Jonas is stuck with the local whore house. Hookers here are actually in a guild, and are licensed to practice their profession, complete with quarterly health checks. Considering the number of clients they seem to have and the complete lack of anything resembling condoms in the entire story, one would think they'd get checked more than quarterly, but...no. Our intrepid hero is feeling the burning in his loins, but is deathly afraid that his parents will find out that he'd been to the local cathouse. He was more concerned that his parents would find out who he'd been with, but that didn't make much sense. The whore houses employed both male and females, and there was no explicit stigma attached to going to a whore house, so how they would have found out he'd gone to see a male rather than a female was never explained.
Be that as it may, Jonas finally screws up the courage to go inside the whore house after many false starts. He meets Micah, an pretty man with an 8-year-old daughter he's supporting. The two begin an odd relationship, first as clients and later as friends when they find out that a mutual friend is Micah's neighbor. Throughout the story, Jonas struggles with his deepening friendship with the whore, his relationship with his family, and his behind the scenes fight against discrimination.
The world building started out as very clunky and clumsily hammered together in a sloppy collage of Christian and Jewish religions combined with some vaguely Regency clothing and transportation, and a splash of Middle Eastern type foods thrown in for fun. The effect was confusing and dragged the story on at a blindingly slow pace in the beginning.
However, the central theme of discrimination against the mahevi, and the way laws were able to be passed in secret with no public notice whatsoever caught my attention through the middle of the story. The campaigning for each side, with propaganda in the way of broadsheets in the town square, was a provocative look at human prejudices and how they affect all members of society. Even the children got involved here, staging a brilliant protest when one of their favorite teachers was fired for being mahev.
Also captivating was Jonas' relationship with his parents, and how his father's views crippled him. His mother was portrayed as a weak-willed woman who very meekly followed along with whatever her husband decided. Complicating the issues throughout was the presence of psychic ability called cheel, which manifested in many ways such as telepathy, empathy, and being able to obliquely influence people's decisions.
The story ended rather jarringly, with the conflict tied up neatly in a pretty bow in a matter of pages and a HFN hastily slapped on. The effect was one of an author who was sliding a little too close to the deadline, and rather than keep writing, decided to just end the story where they were at and send it off as is. After following Jonas through much mud slinging and anxiety, the reader is left with more of an anti-climax. That's it?
I've not read anything by this author, but found the story to be enjoyable simply for its exploration of prejudice and the angst of telling one's family that they're not quite as the parents would have them be. I would have liked for the background to be more cohesive around those themes, but...c'est a vie.
Get your copy here.
Think Kink!
Post Labor Day Sale!
Noble Romance Publishing, LLC
Presents you with the chance to receive 25% off your entire order.
Good toward the purchase of any books on our Web site.
Simply visit Noble Romance Publishing, LLC, choose the book or books you'd like to purchase, and then enter promo code TXMQGF when you check out.
Offer valid this weekend only - Expires 12:00 midnight EDT Sunday, September 13, 2009.
If you've not already got your copy of Copsucker II, I highly recommend you slide on over and get it!
My review.
Link to book.
Blurb:One hot night, one freeze frame…and one shocking surprise.
As a bartender at the Lucky Seven club, Josh Bauer could take a different guy home every night…if he wanted to. Working three jobs, however, makes it hard to connect with anyone. One man, though, is too much temptation to resist. A steamy encounter in a back alley leads to an explosive night of sex in Josh’s bed—a bed he isn’t surprised to find empty the next morning.
What does surprise him, though, is the front page of a tabloid. Apparently his one-night stand isn’t as anonymous as he thought it was.
Ryan Kellar’s career is taking off. Advance buzz about his movie says it’s a blockbuster, and going home with the gorgeous bartender is the perfect way to celebrate. And he thought he’d gotten away clean—until the picture in the paper shocks him into reality. Was Josh really just playing…or playing him for a fool?
Trust isn’t big on their list right now, but as their worlds fall apart, it’s all they have. At least until they figure out who took the picture. And why…
Bottom line up front:
It didn't suck. Much.
The rest:
Ryan is an actor who happens to be gay. He's rather amusingly lead astray quite often by his best friend, Bill. Finally, a gay man with a best friend who isn't an annoying, shrill, fag hag trying to live vicariously through strictly dickly men! Bill is completely straight, but doesn't seem to mind in the slightest that Ryan likes dangly bits that aren't boobs. The two go out on a wild drinking spree one night, and Bill actually encourages Ryan to loosen up some and hook up with the cute bartender. I'd have liked to see Ryan show a little more initiative on his own, but as long as the end result is the same, who cares?
He seems to be a bit conflicted about how much of his private life he's willing to share with his fans. On one hand, he's absolutely mortified when a tabloid runs pics of him sucking some random bartender off in a back alley, but then he kind of goes off half-cocked (heee!) and ends up in the papers again. This, despite a vicious tongue-lashing from his exceedingly aggravating agent. The inner conflict is shown again when Ryan regretfully pulls a coyote ugly and sneaks out of bed at dawn to avoid any of the morning after awkwardness. He's determined that his wonderful night with Josh has to be a one-off, because he's been sort of typecast as an action hero hunk, and gay doesn't exactly fit in with the typical Hollywood image.
As usual, intentions aren't worth much. Ryan and Josh end up doing the nasty again, despite Ryan's suspicion that Josh might have set up the whole back alley thing to make money by selling out to sleazy tabloids. A quick background check shows there's reason to believe that Josh could really use the money.
Josh's characterization is initially very vague, in keeping with Ryan's pov, since Ryan initially knew nothing about the guy he played suck-and-swallow with in the alley behind the bar Josh works at. However, I found it perplexing that Josh is working three jobs and somehow STILL finds time not only to sleep, but to hit the gym regularly to get that mandatory six pack that at least one character in m/m romances must have. And he seems to conveniently always have time off to bang Ryan through the mattress at a moment's notice.
Fans who follow along with Chase's stories would likely be pleased at the Garrett/CJ (from High Line) cameo. The two popped up a time or two in the story to offer Ryan some timely tips.
Tabloid Star isn't my least favorite Chase story, but it's not the best either. This has been a disappointing month of mediocre releases for an author who used to write such wonderful stories. Hopefully, this isn't a lasting trend.
Get your copy here.
Ok, so I'm doing my evening blog crawl, and flipping through some reviews. Just scanning, cuz I'm winding down to go to bed. But as I scan a review of a YA book, this bit of wtfery jumped up and bitch slapped me:I’d never heard of ‘bug chasing’ before I read about it in this book. Quite frankly, the thought that there are a small number of gay men who, like the character of Billy, actively seek to become HIV positive horrifies me.
There are guys out there who actually try to catch HIV? And there's enough of them that there's actually a fucking term for it...bug chasing?? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!!!!! What special kind of fucktard would a person have to be to do something like that? No unnerstand.
Of course, I had to go to the oracle, Wikipedia. There's bug parties, and the guys who are HIV+ are called the gift givers. Gift givers, for the love of God!
From another interesting article I found:
...seeking HIV is also exciting for some because it is a fetish. CBC news reporter Marie Caloz says that one person she interviewed was aroused by the idea and that he now only has sex with those who are HIV positive (3). It is similar to the same attractions of sado-masochistic activities. While those acts usually involve physical pain some are turned on by it. In this case they are turned on by a life-threatening illness.
I just...there's no way my mind can wrap itself around this, and it's trying really hard.
Brain go splodey nao.
You all heard of this before? If you have, thanks for keeping it from me. Could have lived longer never knowing of this. Really, I could.
Blurb:At the tender age of seven, newly orphaned Micah Jiminez lost everything—and got lucky. The Delaney family opened their hearts and their home, treated him like one of their own. One Delaney in particular, though, became more than a brother to Micah. The handsome and protective Tucker is the man to whom he wants to give his love.
But after a single passionate night together, Tucker rebuffs him and hightails it to Dallas to pursue his dreams. Leaving Micah to pick up the pieces of his broken heart—and feeling like a fool.
The impending death of the Delaney patriarch brings an unsavory relative out of the woodwork, threatening Micah’s beloved adopted family. They’re going to need all hands in the fight to keep The Bar D from being pulled out from under them all—including Tucker. Micah steels himself to convince the man he can’t forget to come home.
To his everlasting surprise, it’s Tucker who comes up with the perfect solution: a marriage of convenience—to Micah. His gut tells him Tucker’s motivation involves nothing more than saving the ranch. Now he just has to convince his fragile heart.
Bottom line up front:
This story reads like a Harlequin-esque Mysterious Will Clause story. It would have more aptly been named The Cattle Baron's Convenient Foreman Husband.
The rest:
Michah has been in love with Tucker since he was old enough to figure out what that tingling in his man bits meant. He was able to con an eighteenth birthday lay out of his One Twu Luv, but the guy rolled right out of bed and took off for the wilds of Dallas before the sheets cooled. Micah has spent the last six or so years yearning for his heart's desire while trying to run the ranch his sort-of adopted family owns.
Sadly, the money wasn't flowing along with the good intentions, and the place is about to go bankrupt. The family patriarch is seriously ill in the hospital and not expected to live much longer. Right about the same time, the oldest son starts sending Micah messages, demanding the logbooks be turned over. Apparently the oldest vulture figured he'd be the guy inheriting everything, even though he took off with his brother's wife long ago and hasn't been back since. Charming.
As much as it pains him to do so, Micah tracks Tucker down and begs the successful man to come bail out his childhood home. But throwing money at the problem wouldn't make it go away. The only other way to save Micah's beloved home is contained in an odd clause in a will: one of them has to be in some sort of a committed relationship. It doesn't have to be a legal marriage in Texas. Even a civil partnership would do.
Tucker talks Micah into a marriage of convenience. The only problem is that now that they're in close proximity again, neither can exactly keep their hands off the other.
I don't know that I bought the whole marriage of convenience, particularly since the two men weren't exactly being abstinent in the marriage bed. It was entirely too cliche for Tucker to run off for the city because he didn't want to take advantage of the young nephew of the foreman.
There was something slick, unemotional, and detached about this story. Not having read the original version, I can't say whether it's the tone the story was initially written in, or the end result of being extensively revamped and re-edited by an author who is in a different place artistically now. Either which way, the dispassionate execution here from one of my very favorite authors came as a disappointment.
My love for Langley's work remains undiminished, but this is the first story of hers that will not be moved over to the keeper file. With any luck, I'll shortly forget having ever read this book and can go on slavishly fangirling this author.
Get your copy here.
Blurb: Spencer Patterson writes "news" reports on paranormal phenomena for The Weekly Harbinger, a national tabloid magazine. He's had a lifelong love affair with all things supernatural, and having failed at serious news reporting, he eventually merged his hobby with his journalism degree and embarked on a tabloid career.
On assignment in the sleepy Massachusetts town of Fall River, home of the infamous Lizzie Borden axe murders, Spencer meets and falls for sexy Virgil Slade, lifelong resident and owner of a nearby bed-and-breakfast. Things are not as they seem. Virgil, with his hot body, sexy dreadlocks and unusual tattoos, harbors a tremendous secret that turns Spencer's world upside down.
Bottom line up front:
Nobody died in a flurry of blood, guts, or ruffled red feathers. Promise. I read the whole thing through twice, just to make sure.
The rest:
Spencer is the typical journalist of today: he takes precious few facts, adds in a generous dollop of pure fiction, and publishes the resulting mess in a paper. He writes for the paranormal tabloid The Weekly Harbinger. He's on assignment in Fall River, MA (hmmm...where have I heard of that place before?) under the guise of investigating the old Lizzie Borden murders. He ends up at a hotel where the front desk clerk/owner is a sexy dreadlocked guy with some odd ink. I mean, really! Who tattoos a pic of their mom on their back nowadays?
Spencer and Virgil get to flirting right away, and end up in bed bumping uglies not a day later. Virgil, being a true gentleman, took Spencer out for a little surf and turf before slipping him some tube steak. Of course, there was the little matter of all these incredibly life-like statues all over the hotel to be addressed, combined with the dreaded "we need to have a talk" moment.
Spencer, for all his articles on the paranormal, didn't actually believe in ghosts, goblins, or anything other than humans bumping in the night. It is borderline unbelievable then, when finally confronted with something outside the general parameters of 'normal', he is completely unfazed. He painlessly slid from confirmed skeptic to true believer. That didn't carry the ring of authenticity for me. I could have bought some of it, but there were snakes. Snakes! Staring at him. During sex. And he just kept bucking his hips. No girlish squeak or anything.
Virgil was actually interesting as a character...all the way up until he turned into a sniveling little bitch.
"Oh God, Spencer," Virgil said, his voice choking up, and I wondered if those eyes could cry. "Love me, just love me. I don't think I can get through this by myself."Well, you're going to have to figure it out honey, cuz I'm outta here!
Ok, Spencer didn't actually say that, but I thought it for him. Whiny men annoy the snot out of me 100% of the time.
I didn't love Damn Gorgeous, but there were enough elements attracting my attention that I didn't hate it either. On the whole, I found it an average read with the potential to be an above average series if continued on. I'd certainly be interested in reading the next story, if there is one.
Buy your copy here.
So...yeah. Was at 24 Hour Fitness doing one of my many insomniac 2am sessions when I saw this video on VH1. I just love those individal tv's they have on the cross trainers, don't you? Can watch whatever you want.
Anyways, two things jumped out at me: 1) I *want* the shoes she's wearing in the cage. Like...WANT! and 2)I could pause this at 1:30 and drool for weeks. Really, I could.
The cage scenes in this video had me sweaty and panting for air in a way that had nothing to do with being on the crosstrainer. I know this because I actually froze about a minute in and stood there with my mouth gaped open like an idiot.
Go read. Is made of the awesome sauce, with extra cheese.
My favorite part?
...let's be honest. We all started blogging about books because we're patently "uncool." No, really - we're all "uncool." If any of us were "cool" we wouldn't be spending so much time on the Internet talking about books. Now, now - don't be offended. I make my living as a goddamn librarian. Here in the Bat Cave I'm referred to as Queen Dorks-A-Lot. The magic of the online romance community is that all of us "uncool" people found each other. And when we're together? Yeah, we're all frickin' awesome! We're all rock stars!She has a point, actually.
Blurb:Gryphon’s in trouble. Captured and tortured by humans, the ancient vampire is dying. The humans gave him enough blood to continue his torture, but not enough to heal or free himself. He’s on the brink of death when a meal is tossed into his cell.
Nick knows all about the monsters lurking in the dark corners of the world. Unfortunately for him, it’s the human ones who try to kill him. Broken and bloody, he’s thrown into a cell with a vampire. Knowing he’s dying, Nick offers his blood to the vampire, willing to sacrifice himself to save the tormented man.
Gryphon accepts Nick’s offer and the first drink of blood will bind them together through a life-changing adventure. The worlds of human and supernatural collide, catching Nick and Gryphon in the middle...
Bottom line up front:
Weird. Definitely weird. Dunno what to make of this story, but it was nowhere near to the luminous beauty of Angel's Evolution.
The rest:
Nick is a geek who got seduced by a total jackass who couldn't be bothered to do his own research. However, Bad Guy miscalculated, because as soon as Nick figured out what was happening with all the research, he promptly stopped cooperating. For his troubles, Nick got beat up by Bad Guy and his goons and thrown into a cage to be dinner for a very hungry vampire.
Sadly for the goons, the vampire wasn't exactly cooperating either. Gryphon only drank enough to be able to have the power to teleport them out of their jail. He eventually takes Nick to some mysterious Cave of the Gods, and asks them to heal the battered and broken man. The gods healed Nick and summarily turned him into their avatar, sort of their walking talking representative, complete with a cobra spirit guide.
I was a bit apprehensive when I came to the talking snake part of the story. I've only read one other book that featured a talking snake (bible), and things didn't turn out so well for those characters. Of course, the snake in the current book- imaginatively named Serpens- was infinitely more interesting, and more inclined to urge Nick to eat assholes rather than apples.
Through some trial and error, Nick slowly discovers what his newly immortal powers are while being told that it didn't all come free. He is tasked with finding a spell book which, if landed in the wrong hands, could spell the end of all preternatural beings. The gods definitely don't want that, because the preternaturals are the only ones who still believe in them. If preters cease to exist, the gods go bye-bye too.
There were many odd moments in the story, particularly where the sex scenes were concerned. For the first time ever, I got the feeling that Chase sort of randomly threw them in. The end result is that Nick and Gryphon kept doing the nasty at odd times that just didn't make sense. The first time was shortly after Nick was rescued by Gryphon. He just got rather abruptly broken up with by his last boyfriend in the form of an ass beating that left him temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. However, he was quick to make out and subsequently bump uglies with Gryphon, all the while wondering why he was falling in love again. Uh...why? All he really knew about Gryphon was that the vampire saved his life after he saved the vampire. Not much to base a relationship on. Slow the heck down, dude.
Another weird boinking scene happened when Nick went out to the balcony. He looks over to the treeline and sees the shadow of someone watching him. Rather than investigate, his inner exhibitionist busts out waving the freak flag, and Nick is wanting to do the nasty outside for the delectation of the masses. Huh?? Gryphon wasn't much better. He did convince Nick to go back inside, but only so they could squirt sperms on the bedspread. They're in danger. People are trying to kill them, yet when they see someone spying on them, all they could think of was 'hey, let's fuck!' Does not compute.
So...yeah. Much gratuitous smexing happening here.
The other thing that annoyed me to no end is the simplistic naming of characters here. The snake was named Serpens. The only other known avatar had a jaguar spirit guide named Felius. The head bad guy's name was Grime. Really? Did somebody run out of character names and end up polling kindergartners?
I had to laugh at this particular innovative twist:
"Several of my pack members have died from a mutated strain ofWerewolves with parvo? Oh, dear. Now that's something I haven't read before. In this case, the parvo is the result of too much inbreeding in the pack.
parvo.”
Fans of Allergies will be happy to know that Lou, Ray, and the rest of the pack are back in this continuation of the series. However, Nick of Time can be read as a stand alone. The story was rather open ended, so we likely haven't seen the last of Nick or Gryphon either. I'll reserve judgment on whether to read on. Chase, a former autobuy, has been disappointing me lately with stories that are mediocre at best.
Get your copy here.
Blurb:Enter the world of The Lost, a tribe of vampires who are sworn to coexist with humans while leaving them strictly alone. However, that isn’t always possible…
The Lost 1: Broken Vows: Daniel's looking for answers about his sexuality. He’s sure just one night with an older, experienced man will finally answer the questions that have been tormenting him for years. But he doesn’t expect the older man to be a gorgeous vampire named Gabrielle. It’s love at first sight for Daniel but Gabrielle has made a vow not to interfere in human affairs.
The Lost 2: Blood Hustler: James became a vampire almost two hundred years ago and recently lost his only companion. Even though he's lonely, the grief's too fresh to be looking for another man to fill the hole in his heart. Then Tad, a young street hustler, offers to sell James the best sex he’s ever had. James knows he shouldn’t bind a human to him, especially one as young as Tad who hasn’t experienced life yet, but the boy’s hungry heart calls to his own.
Bottom line up front:
If it can at all be avoided, skip Broken Vows and go straight to Blood Hustler. Your teeth will thank you. The second book was quite enjoyable, if you can ignore the non-con flashbacks.
The rest:
One of these two books is something that was previously published. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was Broken Vows. That story is a short piece of saccharine sweet nonsense that shouldn't have been published the first time, never mind inflicted on unsuspecting readers for a second go round. Had it been presented as a stand alone short, it would have taken a short flight into my hard office wall. I highly suggest you fast forward to the second story and skip this one altogether.
Blood Hustler:
James is fairly young as vampires go- just under a few centuries. He has recently lost his partner in what had to be the most unfulfilling relationship ever. The guy he was in love with and turned into his Chosen wasn't into guys, but they stuck it out for over 180 years, with no sex whatsoever, until the other dude got tired and thankfully asked to stop being bitten so he could die. Selfish jackass. At this point, I'm not thinking much of James as a big bad hero. Who sticks with one person for that long when it was a very rare treat to be able to feed from his love's neck, and he never got to get off unless he snuck out of the house and found a hooker?
Be that as it may, James is finally free, and he's wandering about the theater district when some little shirtless imp propositions him. He's not really interested, but the guy is about to be sucked dry by a demon in the not fun spanky way, so he takes the kid home and feeds him.
Tad had been sexually abused by his mother's boyfriend at a young age, and ran away. Of course, he ended up having to be a prostitute on the street to survive, so the whole situation was sort of a wash for him. He's happy that James is such a gentleman...takes him to his house, then feeds and clothes him, all with no strings attached. However, in an interesting twist, Tad actually wants those strings. His initial thought was that he could have one rich sugar daddy to help him out, rather than a bunch of old, fat, married men he had to suck off for a few dollars. But he genuinely likes James, and they become fast friends and lovers.
Tad lives with James for one short but incredibly idyllic month...until his mom shows up and asks him to come home.
There was only one wtf moment in the story that tripped my much-maligned meter. This one, after the first time James gives Tad a suck-and-swallow:
“James, there's something you should know.” He looked down at his feet for a moment, as though ashamed about something. “I…I haven't always been safe. I mean, what you were asking earlier about catching something?” He looked up, searching James's eyes. “I mean, I think I'm clean, but I can't promise you for sure, you know?”He was unexpectedly touched???! Dude, you just got told that you possibly just swallowed a mouthful of gonorrhea. "Touched" would not begin to describe my feelings in a similar situation. "Homicidal", maybe. "Highly pissed off and wanting to smack the spit out of this kid's mouth", certainly. Instead, James told Tad that he couldn't catch diseases and not to worry about it. Tad got all bouncy and suggested they skip condoms for the rest of the fun. Oy.
James was unexpectedly touched by the boy's admission.
Overall, however, the story was rather charming in it's naivete. The angst and conflict just skirted the edges of overdone, but managed to be restrained before becoming a fatal flaw. Evangeline Anderson is another hit-or-miss author for me, but I've chalked up the second story in this omnibus as a hit.
Get your copy here.
But hey, widens things up a little for the fanficcers, now that Disney/Marvel characters are one big happy family!
Now Disney has to get DC comics in on the fun and life will be complete.
Blurb:France, 1916. The Great War. High above the carnage in the trenches, British and German aces joust like knights of old for control of the skies. The strain and tension of living every day on the edge of death leads to dangerous choices and wild risks. When British ace Bat Bryant's past catches up with him, he strikes out in panic and kills the man threatening him with exposure. But there's a witness: the big, handsome American pilot Cowboy Cooper.
Cowboy, it seems, has his own ideas of rough justice.
Bottom line up front:
Beautifully written and action packed, this tale has gone straight to the keeper shelf.
The rest:
It took me a good week to getting around to even transferring this file to my reader. Why, you ask? Because I couldn't stop singing Debbie Gibson songs every time I saw the title, dammit. I'm definitely a child of the 80's. And really, I wish authors would stop this silly business of naming all their books after their iPod playlist. Not that I'm saying it happened here, but there have been way too many books lately with song titles. But we digress.
This book starts, as do most Lanyon stories, with a carcass. However, Out of the Blue is not a mystery. We know exactly who killed whom, and why. It was an accident.
Captain Aubrey "Bat" Bryant has been having a wartime tete a tete with one of his Lieutenants, and his mechanic has found out. The mechanic, Orton, arranges a private meeting with Bat to blackmail the guy with exposure unless he pays up. Bat, infuriated, punches Orton in the face. Unfortunately, Orton falls backwards and hits his head, killing the idiot immediately. Oops. And because his luck really isn't going so well, another pilot saw the whole thing and decides to do a little blackmailing of his own.
Cowboy is a Texan who, for reasons unexplained in the short story, is a pilot for the RAF. I mean, what are the odds? How many Texans have flown for the RAF in any war?? But he was there, and not half bad at it. He's been attracted to Bat since first meeting, but Bat was all in love with Owl. Really, those names. Owl got himself shot down the day before Orton decided to move in with this blackmail scheme. It's really been a bad week for Bat, all things considered.
Bat lets Cowboy dispose of the body while he heads back to the mess to be seen by the rest of the squadron, thus setting up his alibi. Of course, that bit of help didn't come for free. For payment, Cowboy asks for what he's wanted from the beginning: Bat's ass, as often as the mood strikes. If that weren't bad enough, the local police find Orton's body and begin investigating...
I didn't see this book as a romance. There were romantic elements, certainly...if you count smexing via blackmail as romantic. There wasn't any non-con involved; Bat wanted what he had with Cowboy, but was too afraid of being found out and court-martialed to have done anything without some gentle coercion. I saw Out of the Blue more as a historical with some romantic elements. In that light, the story succeeded dazzlingly.
As a reader, I always appreciate when an author very obviously goes to a great deal of time and effort to make the story as authentic and realistic as possible. As a veteran, I was highly impressed that not only were events described, but the state of mind of the pilots going into their dogfights. Bat was battle hardened, perpetually exhausted, and finally numbed by it all. Others in the squadron got shot at and completely lost their nerve. That happens in real life. Not all heroes feel heroic, as was powerfully illustrated here.
Lanyon does such a good job with the ambiance of the squadron, Bat in particular, that I was lead to believe that this was a squadron of grizzled old warriors. It came as a shock, then, when Bat's age was rather casually dropped into the story at the end of the book. War ages one, really it does, but...wow. He took on a great deal of responsibility for himself and the pilots in his command at an age when most of us were still focused on getting drunk and hooking up with the flavor of the night. But again, that's realistic. The average age of the enlisted members on my last aircraft carrier was 19. It's kids out there fighting for their country, and that fact often gets lost in the commentary.
This author has taken a subject that I would normally have minimal interest in and made it riveting and provocative. The story here was lyrical, expressive, captivating in a way that very few ever manage. One of the few authors who have gotten exponentially better with every story. Out of the Blue is a book that must be added to the top of every reader's TBR list. Very well done!
Out of the Blue will be released by Liquid Silver Books on Monday, 8/31.
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Burb:For too many years, career obligations and cultural expectations cost Mikisaburo Nabeshima the possibility of love.
Now older, wiser, and infinitely more alone, personal business takes Miki back to New York where another chance encounter with another handsome policeman rouses suppressed desires.
David Kirkland is a brash young cop who grew up on New York’s meanest streets. When the man he believes killed his foster mother is set free, Dave vows revenge. If he needs to leave the country and go undercover with a sexy but infuriating older man then so be it, though he never expected the business arrangement to turn personal.
As Dave confronts a deep-seated need he’s never fully acknowledged, the killer they're after proves more deadly than they anticipate.
Bottom line up front:
Scorching HAWT! There's paint all bubbled up and peeled off my wall from the heat of this story. Dave got pwned by Miki, and it was a helluva lot of fun to have a front row seat to the show.
The rest:
If you've not read the first Copsucker (our affectionate nickname for this series), you may not want to if you're going to read this first. Nor will fans of Copsucker I be particularly pleased with Copsucker II, as one of the main characters in the first book is dead and buried now, and the surviving character has a new playtoy. I mentally scrubbed Copsucker I from my brain and read Copsucker II as a completely different entity to avoid the buzzkill.
Mikisaburo Nabeshima is back, this time as nearly the top cop in Tokyo. He's taking a break from investigating murders in Japan to escort his now all growed up son to New York to attend university. For the newcomers to the Copsucker world, Miki has a wife to go with that college aged son. Of course, it's a marriage of convenience on both sides, because Miki is gay and his wife is a lesbian. Their marriage allows both of them to live how they want to in Japan under the thin umbrella of respectability. Once they had a son to satisfy both their families, they basically parted ways, remaining friends and loving parents to their son.
While in the neighborhood, Miki checks in with some old friends and finds out there's no rest for the weary after all. A murder committed in New York bears an eerie resemblance to a series of murders that happened in his own jurisdiction in Japan. This young, smart-mouthed cop named David is hot on the trail of the smug bastard who is going around killing Asian Dommes on both sides of the ocean. Together, Miki and Dave team up and go undercover to bring Dumb and Limp-dicked to justice. And that's where all the fun comes in.
The real joy in this book is in the relationship dynamic between Miki and Dave. Dave is from the streets of New York, and isn't about to take shit from anyone. However, Miki is the one with all the information here, so he's stuck following the older cop's lead. What's pissing Dave off beyond all bearing is that he's actually liking being topped. Did I mention that Miki is older? Because he is. Our Japanese hottie is now 54 to Dave's 26, but Copsucker II is a rather shining example May/December done right.
Despite his knee-jerk love/hate of Miki's commanding attitude, Dave can't help but be drawn in.
“Kiss me.”
“Wha—“
Nabeshima grabbed the front of Dave’s navy uniform jacket and tugged
him closer. The older man’s lips devoured his an instant later and shit if Dave
didn’t find himself kissing back.
Beleaguered hero Dave knew he wouldn't be able to resist for long, but dang if he didn't let that stop him from trying, and making me laugh in the process:
“We’ll catch the train to Grand Central then go for an early lunch. While on the subway you’ll sit and I’ll stand facing you. You will keep your eyes on my groin unless you are texting me or reading a message from me.”
“How about if I take my Glock and shove it up your ass?”
Heeeee! Speaking of those text messages...well, those made me laugh too. In a very fresh and creative twist, these two characters engage in some very sexy foreplay across the city via cell phone. There was even a dinner where Dave was at a restaurant alone, with a jacket across his lap while Miki was in another room texting him instructions as to where his hands should be.
The bounds of sexy were pushed more than once during the story, and once the line between sexy and OMGWTF got jumped right over. In this scene, Miki is rubbing one out for Dave while Dave talks about losing his virginity:
“We got naked. I was hard. She was wet. We kissed, touched and she laid
back and begged me to fuck her.”
“Did anything else happen?”
“Yeah,” David said. He moaned as Miki began caressing again. “She
begged me to eat her so she could come. I started to. I didn’t like it but I figured I owed it to her."
Sounds like the typical first time of a gay guy trying to cover down, right? Not too bad, definitely something I can deal with. So I read on:
“Did you make her come?”
“Almost but then her brother came in.”
Miki stilled his hand, the plug halfway out. “He beat you up, threw you
out.”
“No.” David paused again. “He joined in.”
At this point, the hair's starting to stand up on the back of my neck. Trying to think of why a brother would come in his sister's room and hop on the bed while she's...busy...but maybe Dave fell for the brother or something, right? Could still turn out ok at this point.
Miki slid the plug in as far as it would go. “So he was the one. You fucked
him.”
“No. But I wanted to.”
"What happened?”
“He kissed her, felt her up. She begged him to fuck her. Said he knew just
how to do it.”
Goddammit, was that really necessary???!
here was the line===> | * <=== here's the story
Still, the book made me laugh and wiggle in my chair more than it tripped my bullshit meter. The language the story was couched in made me laugh and go off on mental tangents more than once, as my ADD got sparked by particular phrases such as "Another grumble from his empty stomach propelled Dave out of bed and to the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed. He then set out to get the biggest ass breakfast he could at the diner.." That bit made me want to catch the next plane to New York. Here in Hawaii, we have to...uh, order in our ass breakfasts. In New York, one can go to special diners to get served. Who knew?
After that, the undercover operation started, and Miki got all dressed up. And I do mean All. Dressed. Up. The last two thirds of this book pretty much melted the wiring in my much abused reader, and the book finished rather spectacularly.
Beautiful C*cksucker II- Such a Good Boy was so good that I wanted to start over and read it again as soon as I finished. It's definitely a story for the keeper file.
Go get this story. Now.
