Love Notes Anthology

More Love Notes by Vicki Lyn
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Genre: GLBT, Contemporary
Length: Word Count: 80000

Love always has perfect timing.

Across battle lines, foolish games, and conflicting tempos, love always finds a way. From rock and roll to symphonies, modern day geeks to 19th century soldiers, this collection of sexy and romantic stories shows even the loneliest of moments can be made right when the perfect note is delivered. Let More Love Notes find a home in your heart, a reminder that love happens all over, any time, any place. Written by four of the hottest authors in gay erotic romance--Lydia Nyx, Scarlett Parrish, Viki Lyn and Jenny Urban--these stories will definitely add an edge of spice to your Valentine's night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue Gray Lines by Lydia Nix

This is an epistolary story – while a lot of the action takes place on Wendell’s farm most of the relationship development happens in the series of letters between him and his lover, Declan, who’s gone for a soldier in the Union Army in the War Between the States. The two clearly love one another: as the horrors of the war drag on, they cling to each other more and more. When Declan finally gets a bit of furlough, it’s just in time.

The letters are perhaps a bit more explicit than would have been wise at the time, but paint a beautiful picture of their love, the effort to find a way to fit their relationship into their world, and the joy of finding that there are indeed other men like them. Very nice to find an authentic-feeling historical with a happy ending.

Burn by Scarlett Parrish 

On the rebound after getting left by a cad, Austin heads to a gay bar to pick up an anonymous fuck for the night. He’s had it with intimacy after getting cheated on and wants nothing more than to get his ashes hauled. The man he meets is willing both to banter and to go home with him, calling him “Texas” rather than his name, and answering to “James,” which Austin dubbed him just to have something more personalized than “hey you.”

While the sex is foremost in Austin’s mind, they manage to exchange an extraordinary amount about themselves in their banter, which is sassy, snarky, and a lot of fun, and you can watch real intimacy forming in the absence of trivia like names. The sex is hot, and while “James” would like a rematch, he’s willing to leave it up to Austin, who is torn about opening the note with contact information. This is a witty story about finding more than you were looking for.

Lovers’ Trill by Viki Lyn

The notes here are notes in the music that both Leo and Andre play. Lovers when they were students at conservatory, they split up when Leo veered from his classical roots, although they are the underpinning of his successful rock-and-roll career. Leo had broken it off with a note, but neither man had really gotten over the other, so a chance reconnection in Vienna has a chance to let them rekindle something more lasting.

They have a lot of obstacles to overcome, and their careers aren’t going to make it easy, although they will make it possible. This one’s long enough to justify having chapters and alternating points of view. The author clearly understands music, and tells a good story.

The Heart is a Stringed Instrument by Jenny Urban

Another setting in the world of classical music, this one is totally different – Brandon and Mark stumble on each other as casual hook-ups in a bar, and are quite astonished to find each other at a rehearsal together. Brandon is a cellist, Mark the guest conductor, who probably won’t be around beyond the end of the season. They tell themselves that the gradual slide into intimacy is nothing more than expedience, living together is just convenience, and why hunt for sex when sexy lives just down the hall?

A relationship creeps into what both men are telling themselves is just a matter of handiness, and the HEA catches them entirely by surprise. A delightful story.

***

This anthology is comprised of stories of uniformly high quality, longer than most, averaging 45 pages each. Each was an enjoyable and different take on the theme, and made for a charming read. 4.5 Marbles