Alike as Two Bees by Elin Gregory

Title: Alike as Two Bees

Author: Elin Gregory
Publisher: Etopia Press
Genre: Historical
Length: 20k words

Horses, love, and the tang of thyme and honey...

In Classical Greece, apprentice sculptor Philon has chosen the ideal horse to model for his masterpiece. Sadly, the rider falls well short of the ideal of beauty, but scarred and tattered Hilarion, with his brilliant, imperfect smile, draws Philon in a way that mere perfection cannot.

After years of living among the free and easy tribes of the north, Hillarion has no patience with Athenian formality. He knows what he wants—and what he wants is Philon. Society, friends and family threaten their growing relationship, but perhaps a scarred soldier and a lover of beauty are more alike than they appear.

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Elin Gregory draws us into the ancient world of Greece, where democratic ideals didn’t necessarily penetrate to the countryside and the hand that holds the purse rules the world. Lovers are just as sweet in that past. Alike as Two Bees takes us to the sculptors’ yard where beauty we are accustomed to finding in museums is just today’s work.

Philon, plucked from among the stonemasons to train as a sculptor, is old for an apprentice because of his change in trades. He hangs back rather than put himself forward and acts more than he speaks.  He’s drawn to Hilarion, the scarred veteran of foreign parts, whose first duty must be to keeping his impetuous cousin Aristion from setting the countryside on its ear. One way or another, the two find ways to be together—duty always calls, and the demands of family take precedence, but Philon and Hilarion manage to find some privacy.

The slightly formal language of the story and the somewhat distant third person keep us from entering entirely into their heads. This actually works best in the one sex scene, where a few lines of breathless dialog and the barest of actions let us create an entire encounter more completely than describing every grunt and thrust could do. A number of important scenes take place in a third party’s POV, which creates a distancing effect—it isn’t even quite clear who the lovers will be until quite far into the story. One could possibly be thirteen year old Anatolios, who is a much livelier and more interesting character than Philon, although he enjoyed nothing more than admonitions to stay away from an older sculptor if the man had been drinking. The forced innocence of the two young men seemed one of the few modern notions grafted onto the past.

Philon is peculiarly innocent for a man who’s lived in the masons’ yard since he was old enough to leave the company of women, and because we don’t see deeply into his head, he comes across as a little simple. Still, he’s attracted the more worldly Hilarion, whose slightly clumsy courtship comes with choice olives and offers to ride double upon his fine mare. It’s cute, sweet, and fraught with difficulties seldom seen in a more industrial world.

At no time does the language break period, and if the turns of phrase are not translations from the Greek as they seem to be, they are very much in keeping with the world and sound very authentic. Alike as Two Bees is a charming look into the human side of antiquity. 3.5 marbles

A Thousand Word Thursday Excerpt from PD Singer

Granite towered over the two young men, reaching half a mile into the blueness of a soft California sky. Pale crystals glittered against the morning, streaked with dark veins of diorite. El Capitan beckoned in the early morning sun; figures could be seen clinging to rock well beyond arm's reach. No picture Ansel Adams had ever taken compared to the reality of the monoliths jutting out of the earth. With almost too much to look at, Kurt Carlson had to focus on this one—Rock was too small a word. Monolith didn't tell the grandeur. He'd stood atop Half Dome, feeling small in the majesty of Yosemite, where the bones of the world lay bare to men. The thanks had formed a lump in his throat then, and now, at the base of the titan, Kurt could barely swallow.

"If you really wanted to get to the top, we could have hiked up the valley by the falls." Carabiners loaded with pitons, hex nuts, and 'friends' clanked against each other on the webbing harness slung over Benji's shoulder.

Trust Benji Shaffer to blow a hole in the poetry of the moment. He could be such a killjoy sometimes. "You first." Kurt also clattered with every movement. He adjusted the webbing of his equipment rack where it twisted under the loops of blue and red climbing rope that he wore like bandoliers. He hadn't scrimped and saved for a year for this trip to hike up the back way.

"Of course I go first. You think I’m going to let you lead on El Capitan?"

"Fuck yeah, I'm going to lead on El Cap; you think I want to risk coming unzipped again?" Kurt had trusted the protections Benji had set on Half Dome last week. His stomach churned with the remembered fall—only two pitons had jerked out of the stone when he'd slipped on the traverse, but twenty feet of straight down could have turned into twelve hundred feet and an abrupt halt for both of them.

"The rock flaked, Kurt. I've never had a placement fail before; it could have happened to you."

"Did happen to me—that's why I'm leading." Kurt didn't want to start this climb by snarling at the guy his life would depend on for the next three days, but he still sported the bruises from smashing into an unforgiving chunk of the Yosemite National Park. He squinted up the wall. "How'd those Canadian dudes get there ahead of us?" The group of three men had had the camp site next to theirs; the five climbers had passed a flask of tequila around the campfire the night before, telling stories of adventures on other big walls.

"By getting up at oh-dark-thirty. You want to wait until they get up another pitch?"

"I don't want to follow them at all. One high-velocity shit storm per trip is enough." A hazard of being lower on the rock when Nature called; too bad there was little hope of having the climbing route to themselves. They'd come a little too close to taking direct hits from the team above.

"Hey, if you'd been looking up, you'd have seen his bare ass."

"There's a time and a place, Benj. This ain't it." There had never been a time or a place with Benji, probably never would be, not that Kurt hadn't nurtured a few dreams of hot nights, lazy mornings, and enough trash-talking to be sure they weren't getting sentimental. One out of three, and don't expect more. He’s your roommate, not your lover.

********************************
Pam's shared the opener from Into the Mountains, the bonus story that comes with Fire on the Mountain. Here's a chance to learn a whole lot more about Kurt!

 Take a break from academics, enjoy the Colorado Rockies, fight a fire now and then. That’s all Jake Landon expected when he signed up to be a ranger. He’ll partner with some crusty old mountain man; they’ll patrol the wilderness in a tanker, speak three words a day, and Old Crusty won’t be alluring at all. A national forest is big enough to be Jake’s closet—he’ll spend his free time fishing.

Except Old Crusty turns out to be Kurt Carlson: confident, competent, and experienced. He's also young, hot, friendly, and considers clothing optional when it’s just two guys in the wilderness. Sharing a small cabin with this walking temptation is stressing Jake’s sanity—is he sending signals, or just being Kurt? And how would Kurt react if he found out his new partner wants to start a fire of a different kind? Jake’s terrified—they have to live together for five months no matter what.

Enough sparks fly between the rangers to set the trees alight, but it takes a raging inferno to make Jake and Kurt admit to the heat between them.

Bonus Short Story: Into the Mountains

Long before he met Jake, Kurt Carlson climbed Yosemite with his best friend, Benji. But after a storm traps them halfway up the face of El Capitan, Kurt has to accept that their friendship isn't what he thought.

Find it at Dreamspinner, Amazon, All Romance eBooks, and your other favorite ebook sellers.

Shadow Men by Edward Kendrick

Title: Shadow Men
Author: Edward Kendrick
Cover Artist: Reece Dante
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Genre: action/adventure
Length: 49K

Two men, Rafe de Lorca and Steele Reid, are committed as deeply to their job as they are in their love for each other. Trained in espionage, they are killers by necessity and patriots by choice. Betrayed by the very people they work for and on the run, will they manage to survive, or will those who are after them prevail?

Espionage agent Anders must protect Grant Eastman and his son, Nicky, after Grant discovers information vital to national security. Teamed with a third man, they attempt to get the information into safe hands while trying to elude those who would kill them to retrieve it.

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I’m coming at this book as a fan of both Jason Bourne and James Bond, and also as a John le Carre and Eric Ambler reader. I’m willing to be thrilled, can tolerate a high body count, and think sexytimes after the chase ends is perfect. I also like to know what’s at stake.


Rafe and Steele belong to some undefined but well-funded and well-staffed government espionage agency. They are deeply committed to each other and make a formidable team, being able to out-shoot, out-sneak, outwit, and out-maneuver 98% of their colleagues. A good thing, because once they locate the prized information, they have to elude everyone in their quest to bring this information to people who will act on the knowledge.

What’s important enough to make Rafe and Steele kill their former associates, who may or may not be untrustworthy or only believing information given to them by their superiors? Your guess is as good as mine—the blurb is almost as detailed as the book on that score. The fade to black issue is very visible here—they have the documentation but don’t share with the readers.

Little details that should bring the action to life get the same treatment, like this:

"Help me. Let me in before they find me."
"Who are you?" Steele called out.
"{name redacted}."
"Prove it."
The man spoke three words, paused, and then added a short phrase.

This disrupts the rhythm of the scenes and unfortunately feels sloppy, like the author didn’t spend the effort to invent something convincing.

Rafe and Steele are alive on the page though—they banter, kiss, bind wounds, and defend each other across countries and continents in their patriotic effort to stop whatever is going on. They are an established couple, and their devotion to each other and to their country is one of the book’s very brightest spots.

At about the halfway point, focus switches to Grant and Anders. Grant’s stumbled into this mess by trying to do the right thing, and the agency is still a house divided—Grant can only determine which side to trust by the direction of the shooting.

Anders is another good man—he’s as committed as Rafe and Steele to bringing the unnamed malfeasance to an end and while Grant is freaked out about participating in the operation, he’s also noticing Anders as a man. The tension between them is thick, whenever they have a lull in the action, but Grant’s been widowed once and isn’t in the market for sex as tension relief only. Their back-away-closer dance produced some tension on its own.

The story has a low heat rating for the sex, which is fine; a lot of on screen humping and moaning would sit uneasily in the middle of the mounting body count, and I’m assigning it a high rating for sexual tension, which is also fitting. The book should also have a very high tension rating over “What made this all worth it?” which is not so okay—it kept me from being invested in the good guys’ success for any other reason than because they’re the good guys. “Bad men are bad” seems to be the rest of the reasoning, and considering the substantial carnage, that’s not enough.

Trying to manage the conventions for both action/adventure and for romance in the same story produced a compromise that stepped all over one of the best action/adventure elements, and inadvertently smashed an extremely romantic element, IMHO, although I’m sure others might disagree with me on this. Even so, the author managed to balance everything except for the reader knowing why the victory was worth the cost. 3.5 marbles

A Picture is worth...

That rope looks too much like a spiderweb for me, but I think the guy's having a good time. Or is he? If you care to explain with 100-1000 words, send them to CryselleC AT gmail DOT com (See the Thousand Word Thusrday page for full directions) and the rest of us will just scream.

A Thousand Word Thursday Story from Amelia C. Gormley

There were easier ways to get off, Gavin thought, watching Derrick work. Cheaper, too.

After all, Gavin didn’t imagine a phone sex or live webcam sex show would cost as much per hour as Derrick billed for labor.

But then, a phone sex operator wouldn’t fill out a simple pair of well-washed jeans the way Derrick did. A webcam sex operator wouldn’t push his hair back behind his ear with such an artless lack of awareness of his own appeal.


That was, perhaps, the thing that made it all worth the money. None of it was a show. None of it was a put-on. Those ass-hugging jeans weren’t bought because they looked good. They were bought because they were sturdy, comfortable and on sale. He didn’t push his hair back for effect, he did it because it was kept falling in his eyes as he tried to focus on his task.

Gavin tried to turn back to the work he’d brought home, and failed miserably at keeping his mind off the man working behind him.

His unaffected nature was only part of Derrick's appeal, he thought, glancing over his shoulder again as Derrick dug in his toolkit, his jeans pulling tight across his firm ass. The other part was the contradictions he posed.

The gray jersey of his t-shirt had creases from being ironed. He triple-checked each step of his work for accuracy. He put each tool back in his toolkit with neat precision from exactly the spot he’d taken it out.

Everything about the way he dressed and worked pegged him as exacting and orderly. And yet his chestnut hair hung loose, unruly enough to fall in his face each time Derrick ducked his head.

Why? Gavin would expect a guy as fastidious as Derrick to sport a crew cut or something equally appalling.

Instead, he had the sort of hair that would brush a man’s thighs while Derrick sucked him off.

Oh, God.

It would be perfect for gathering in his hand, clenching in his fist as he guided Derrick’s head up and down.

Stop. Just stop. Now.

Gavin shifted in his chair and Derrick quickly turned his head, as if realizing that he was being watched. Unwilling to let Derrick see the erection that had just begun firming up in his suit pants, Gavin spun back to the work on his desk.

Too late, Gavin thought, hunched over his laptop and cursing himself for being caught staring at the handyman. After a moment, he heard Derrick return to work.

When he glanced back once more, the skin of Derrick’s neck where his hair parted to expose it was a ruddy hue.

God help him, Gavin thought, wishing Derrick would turn around again so he could see the way the blush suffused his face and brightened his stormy green eyes. He wanted to see those eyes widen as he began to realize just what it was he was unwittingly doing to Gavin. He wanted to be the one to tell Derrick just how gorgeous he was, and to watch Derrick’s face transform from bashful disbelief to melting acceptance as he began to believe it.

Now he understood just what drove men to spend their life savings on a phone sex line, or a web cam show, Gavin thought, deleting an error from the screen before him.

He was already planning what he’d break next.

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 Gavin and Derrick have a much longer story--aren't you just itching to read it? These guys are from Amelia's first book, Inertia, which is now available from Amazon and Smashwords, and is in my TBR pile.

By the age of 21, down-to-earth Detroit handyman Derrick Chance had lost everyone he'd ever loved. Too worn-out and wounded to play the dating game, he wrote off the possibility of relationships, or even just sex. Living alone in the old house his grandparents had left him, with only his dog and a few close friends for companionship, he refused to consider himself lonely, or let himself wonder what he might be missing. He knew who he was and where he was headed. His life was comfortable, organized, predictable, and best of all, risk-free. He was content.

Until the day he installed some shelves for accountant Gavin Hayes. A contradictory combination of confidence and uncertainty, Gavin’s shameless flirtations drew him in with an intensity Derrick had never known he longed for. As undeniable as the force of gravity, he abandoned ten years of self-imposed solitude and found himself falling rapidly for Gavin in defiance of all his usual slow and methodical ways.

But Gavin carried wounds of his own. Fresh from an emotionally abusive relationship that ended with a potentially dangerous betrayal, his future was far from certain. Derrick would have to decide if his rediscovered passion was worth taking the chance of another loss.

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Find Amelia around the web at

 * GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6445292.Amelia_C_Gormley

 *Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACGormley

 *Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ameliacgormley

 *Tumblr: http://ameliacgormley.tumblr.com/

Hawaiian Gothic by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane

Title: Hawaiian Gothic
Authors: Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane
Publisher: Loose Id
Cover artist: April Martinez
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 168 pages


Ori and Kalani were childhood friends too afraid to be lovers. Now in their darkest hour—Ori disgraced and Kalani a wandering spirit—they’ll fight the world and death itself for a second chance.

Gregorio “Ori” Reyes thought there was nothing left for him in Hawaii. A former Army Ranger and promising MMA fighter, his dishonorable discharge turned him into the family disgrace, and his childhood best friend Kalani never could love him back--not the way Ori needed to be loved--even before Kalani’s doctors declared him to be in an unrecoverable coma. Ori’s return to Hawaii seems fated to be a depressing reminder of every chance he never took... until Kalani himself impossibly welcomes him home.

Kalani’s body is bedridden, but his spirit is free to roam, and it turns out it’s not just Ori who had unspoken yearnings. Kalani is eager to prove that he can still savor all the pleasures of this world. Together, they remember all those years of surfing, wrestling, touching and aching but too afraid to act; now, they cross that final barrier and struggle against each other in an entirely different way.

Passionately but tenuously reunited, the pair must solve the mystery of Kalani’s unlucky life, sorting through dark family history and even journeying to the Hawaiian ghostworld. And the greatest terror of their journey is that Ori might have to put Kalani to rest.

Review

“Gothic” implies dark and mysterious goings on, an interesting balance against the bright sunniness of Hawaii. This book is a juxtaposition of many more things, with an unique structure, and it works out in a most surprising fashion.


The story opens in the middle—Ori’s now released from Leavenworth, and Kalani’s lying comatose in a hospital bed, the victim of a savage attack. Many things are not what they seem, including Kalani meeting Ori at the airport.

This is an extremely non-linear story—important chunks of flashback (clearly marked, one is never lost in time) take us back and forward, revealing important details about the men and their relationship. Fast friends since nearly forever, they complement each other in many ways, but haven’t taken the step to be lovers until it’s nearly too late. Ori also has a mystery to solve; who did this to Kalani, and how can his spirit go on to its proper destination, wherever that might be?

A substantial portion of the story takes place in the Hawaiian spirit realm, a place I’ve never visited even in fiction, because of Kalani’s background. Ori tries to follow and understand, and his own Filipino background gives him tools to work with. The spirit realm is far from benign, and for Ori to reach it takes a bold and gruesome act, so this story may not be for the squeamish, though the rewards for the persevering reader are great.

At one point the story steps backwards in time and out of the main characters’ POV, to a time before Kalani’s birth. His mother Malia, who is variously loved and reviled, lays the foundations of all that is to come, in a brief excursion into a non-standard but loving relationship. Ladybits warning for the mm purist, but this section is important, beautifully done, and both romantic and tragic.

A few things seem a little overdone, like Ori’s career as both an Army Ranger and an MMA fighter, but serve to highlight his fall from grace and his return to it. He is a man who understands sacrifice and duty, and doing the hard tasks. I wanted to hurt one of the secondary characters for taking steps to harm the innocent, but that character does achieve a kind of redemption.

I loved this story for bringing me into unfamiliar cultures and places, including the parts of Hawaii tourists never see, and for letting me share the evolving relationship between Ori and Kalani. It’s is hot, loving, a little tentative in its changes but built on a solid foundation. Also, hot. These characters have to work extremely hard for their happiness, and I was glad to follow along. 4.5 marbles

XBar by Michele L. Montgomery

Title: XBar
Author: Michele L. Montgomery
Cover Artist: unknown
Publisher: Dare Empire
Genre: contemporary, BDSM (minor)
Length: 83K words

"Unless things have changed since the beginning of time, it's not even remotely possible for two guys to make a baby. A family of two, yes, but not three."

Being a straight, single man wanting to adopt in today's society is hard enough. Not being straight? Whole new level. Red tape, classes, interviews, not to mention the expense, drive so many away with shattered dreams.

Steven comes from money, has a degree in business management, even though he's chosen to work as a bar tender, he believes making a family can be done. He's determined to do it, with or without long time lover Jorge.

At thirty-four, it's time. Fate, of course, has other plans. His haunting past, and the brutal grind of daily life all have the power to destroy both the life he has with Jorge and the family he's trying to build. Determination might not be enough to keep his dream of a family alive.
XBar is about a man finding the truth in lies, lies in truths, and learning how to be stronger than he ever thought possible.

Based on a true story.

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Anyone who opens this book expecting a domestic story based on the blurb is in for a shock. This is Michele Montgomery writing, so there will be dark elements and a bit of BDSM.


This next is a spoiler, so highlight it if you want to know, but I consider it an absolute necessity for readers expecting a straightforward “gay man seeks fatherhood” story of angst, warmth, and fuzziness, which this is not. There is onscreen physical abuse and a glossed over but onscreen rape, which is absolutely not a mistaken idea of a BDSM scene. No negotiation, no consent, no HINT of it being anything other than vicious controlling behavior, and the victim was left feeling violated.

Knowing that this book was based on a true story created some mental anguish for me as I read along, wondering which elements were taken from a particular person’s life, knowing that someone, somewhere, has had to cope with every one of the plot points, and hoping desperately that the worst ones didn’t apply to the author’s character model—some surely didn’t, because the author lists this as fiction on her website. And given that I hated most of the characters for most of the book, I also got to feel horrible for judging someone’s life and finding it wanting. And for this reason, I’d really rather have my fiction be fiction and my memoir be memoir from now on, and for the next two weeks I intend to read nothing but non-fiction about inanimate objects.

The author does explain at the end of the book which elements she took from a friend’s life story, and fortunately for me, it was the plot line I connected best to, the quest for a family. Steven’s been seeking adoption through the traditional channels to no avail and great heartache, but also given that he’s not starting from a stable emotional platform, his gayness doesn’t look like the only factor in getting declined. (See why I felt awful? How much of this is criticism of a real person? A character is fair game. A real person deserves consideration.) Neither his ex nor his current partner were on board with the baby plan.

The ex is an ex for extremely good reason: as Jasmine, a secondary character, observes:

“Stevie, why in the name of God do you keep this loser around? To remind you there is still evil in the world?”

He may be a dom for scenes, but real life around him is anything but safe, sane, or consensual—Clay has no concept of boundaries and no intention of accepting being an ex, something that Steven plays into, over and over. And over. And OVER. (More reason for me to feel horrible—real people have real difficulties getting out of abusive situations, and everyone, including the author, agrees Clay’s abusive. Characters are expected to exhibit some growth over a reasonable page count, and Steven doesn’t: he shows huge strides backwards. Where’s the line between the real and the fictional elements here? *feels unfairly judgmental and also tricked, like I have to accept this characterization because there’s a real person in there somewhere*)

Other characters have a clear view of Steven’s response to Clay’s manipulation and do their utmost to get him to extract himself from the situation, but until he does, I wouldn’t entrust a plush animal to his care, let alone an infant. Jorge has some similar reactions, and better instincts for self-preservation—he’s not willing to be the disposable element in Steven’s life or to accept abuse.

Steven’s quest for fatherhood is the central thread throughout the book; the relationships matter as they impact his desires, and his friends/housemates both have their own dramas going and are affected by Steven’s concerns. Cassidy and Jackie are the two most sympathetic characters here; Jasmine is a horror in her own right, and even Kevin does his part to keep Steven in chains. Important as Steven’s quest is, it’s treated more as a subplot, and Jorge is a footnote more than a player too.

My distress over the real/fiction issues did not keep me from noticing logical inconsistencies, plot elements yanked from thin air, and something that is either an enormous but un-noted passage of time or a continuity error but a bounce out of the story either way. The explosion of happy-happy at the end has a huge Awww! factor but not enough support, though it may make up for some of the horrific journey so far.

Only my knowledge of the author’s work kept me from being taken more aback by the contents of this story—the unwary who pick it up for the baby angle in the blurb will be going O_o . A major blurb rewrite might both reduce the number of sad surprises and increase visibility for the readers who would better appreciate the awful ex plot which takes the bulk of the page time.

This story is more about Steven’s growth than any one relationship, and he does at last become the man who knows to treasure the happiness he’s found, and to understand that it doesn’t always come in the expected package. But my goodness what a mess getting there. And I’d probably feel differently if it was totally non-fiction. Fiction is obligated to make sense, life isn't. 2.75 marbles

Picture time!

Just in case our author's brains have cooked in the hot summer sun, we'll go for a pic that already has the right words attached. But if you have more ideas, for this or any of the other pics, go ahead and let me know. See "How Thousand Word Thursday Works" in the upper left corner of your screen. ;D

Top Mark by Graeme Aitken

Title: Top Mark
Author: Graeme Aitken
Cover Artist: Tane Cavu
Publisher: self
Genre: contemporary, not romance
Length: 7500 words

It was strange at first for Mark, dating a guy with the same first name as him. But ‘the Marks’ developed nicknames for each other. Mark became ‘Top Mark’, a sly nod to his role in the bedroom.

But after seven years together, Mark hasn’t had much opportunity to be on top lately. There have been a lot of conversations avoided, unexplained absences, and some very unsettling phone calls.

From the author of the very popular Sydney based novels 'Vanity Fierce' and 'The Indignities', comes this new e-book short. In his trademark sexy style, Graeme Aitken explores the intricacies of a modern gay relationship with wit, insight and empathy.
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Cryssy found another not-romance, so HEA-requirers may want to move along. This one isn’t a slice of happily ever after, it’s more what happens when the romance goes stale.


Mark and Mark are an established couple with habits, quirks, and ways well known to each other, and that may be half the problem. They’ve been together seven years, and in spite of being able to give each other some space (strict monogamy-requirers may want to exit stage right as well) they may still have more togetherness than one of them wants.

Top Mark, our narrator, calls his lover Marx, partly as a joke, partly to differentiate them, something that doesn’t always work. The name conjured up a quote, which grew more and more ironic as the story progressed. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

Unfortunately, Marx has little ability and great need—the depth of his reliance on others is crystal clear to everyone, including his lover, though everyone seems to accommodate him. Marx has no trouble raiding his lover’s wardrobe permanently and accepting lavish gifts from mommy, no trouble at all prolonging his college experience far beyond the bounds of reason, no trouble taking without giving.

Unfortunately, the more our narrator tells us of the evolution of their relationship, from the days of their starting out to the more recent events of the last six months, the more the two men diverge. The more Marx clings to the perks of adolescence the older Mark seems by comparison, until the six-year gap looks like a chasm, but it’s one of responsibility more than age. And yet the tighter Mark clings.

The troubles between them unfold in small steps, each little detail piling on as Mark describes, with a certain naiveté, the recent goings on. Unsettling phone calls are almost the least of it, though providing a certain note of both humor and WTF.

Both Mark and Marx will provoke a lot of strong feelings, though Aww! won’t be among them. The ending will make you think and ache; there is no happily ever anything here, but it’s beautifully drawn misery. 4 marbles

Dragon Soul by JB McDonald

Title: Dragon Soul
Author: JB McDonald
Cover Artist: Alessia Brio
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 11,800 words

Everything was supposed to work out. They had the dragon under control, they were back with the mercenaries - things were supposed to be good now. That was the plan. Then word of plague in Katsu's country arrives, and with it knowledge that will shatter everything Ashe thought he knew about his lover.

When Katsu has to make a choice between Ashe or sailing overseas to a country that abandoned him to save a beloved sister—Well, some choices are harder than others. Some are nearly impossible to make.

**************************

At the end of the last section, reviewed here, I griped about having to make a grumpy Katsu-face and snagging the next installment just to find out what happens next. After reading Dragon Soul, I have no reason to change that assessment, and in fact, I’m getting really annoyed about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the story, all 44 pages of it. It’s well written, has a lot of character development for Katsu, whose eternal grumpiness hides a caring heart, and moved the overall story along. Katsu’s been an enigma all along, and here we find out a lot of what he’s been hiding. Ashe’s troubles with the dragon are at this point manageable, and he’s showing some nice growth in the relationship now that he’s not being sucked dry. I’d worry a whole lot more about spoilers except that the blurb pretty much makes it a moot point. It doesn’t hide a thing. Frankly, trying to maintain any sort of mystery in each segment is probably really difficult by now, since each blurb spoils the story before.


Anyone coming in at this point would probably be okay with knowing what’s going on—the author gets the world-building and backstory out without turning it into giant infodumps or chunks of exposition, but what is missing here is a complete story arc. An entirely new problem has been presented, but it is in no way resolved.

At this point, there are five installments out, and according to a note from the author, at least another three after this one, all with that serial novel feel. I’m glad this couple’s adventures continue, and I want to read them, but not forty or fifty pages at a time at intervals of months. I think I will wait until the entire arc has scrolled out and is finally compiled into an omnibus edition, at which time I will happily pay a novel price for a novel’s worth of story. Possible this could be two novels’ worth of story, although the dragon/Ashe story line didn’t feel completely wrapped up.

Consequently, this is really, really hard to rate. What’s here is good, but what’s here is one installment of a serial novel, though not advertised or sold as such. That’s an issue, but an even bigger issue is that there isn’t a complete story arc here, just the first act of something more complex. I can hope that the author and the publisher will confer and decide to present the entire story arc in one package, because I am probably not the only reader grumbling at being strung along like this.

What I’d like to do is hold onto the rating until I read the rest of the story. It's probably a 5. What I’m supposed to do is rate what’s in the file in front of me. It’s smooth, it’s a good read, it’s not complete. 3 stars

A picture is worth...

Someone want to tell us what's on this little nymph's mind? He's so cute I may never mow the grass again, just to avoid endangering his wings. If you want to play, look here; and the rest of us will help him cool off.

A Sky Full of Wings by M. Raiya

Title: A Sky Full of Wings
Author: M. Raiya
Cover Artist: Alessia Brio
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: fantasy
Length: 15k words

You're invited to a dragon's wedding!

That's right! Varian and Josh from the Notice series are getting married! There will be swooning (not by whom you'd expect) and wings (not on whom you'd expect) and champagne, roses and rainbows. Warning: there will also be mysterious prophecies, swords, and uninvited guests from the distant past. And the grooms will get a wedding gift beyond their wildest dreams.

Find Varian and Josh in Notice, and in Nice: The Dragon and the Mistletoe.

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It’s always lovely to see the big pay-off in the true love—here we get to see Josh and Varian celebrating their wedding. If you don’t know the characters ahead of time, there is enough in here to introduce them somewhat, and to let the reader sink into the general “Aw!” feeling any wedding will inspire. There are a few extra possibilities for the little oopsies no wedding is without, because one of the grooms is a shapeshifting dragon.


Of course everyone they care about is there, resulting in a cast of thousands , each with some small part to play, and it is a lot like a live wedding where one only knows a few of the guests—a kaleidoscope of strangers, and the smallest guests uttering the most memorable lines.

Josh and Varian, and those closest to them, are better explained in the preceding novel, Notice, and if you haven’t read that, you really should, otherwise a number of references and character traits are going to be incomprehensible. All the reasons to care about Josh and Varian start there, aside from general good wishes for those about to get hitched and the humor that comes from an eager but nervous groom.

Everything the blurb promises is in there, but in such a way that this story feels like the set up for something larger and more complicated. There isn’t a lot of actual conflict, though many plot possibilities could arise later from what happens. What little there is has a ring of implausibility, like someone’s been  asleep at the switch for a long time.

The writing is smooth and enjoyable, with some really charming turns of phrase, and the relationship between Josh and Varian is deeper and more loving by the end, but we’re really starting in the middle with this story, and we really haven’t seen an end. Start with Notice, and plan to read whatever comes next, and this story will be more stellar, but as a stand-alone, it’s a lot of happy-happy and not much plot. Which might be just what you’re in the mood for. 3.25 marbles

Rogues by Ava March

Title: Rogues (Brook Street #3)

Author: Ava March

Publisher: Carina Press

Genre: historical

Length: 28k words (122 PDF pages)

London, 1822

Two of London's most notorious rakehells, Linus Radcliffe and Robert Anderson, are the best of friends. They share almost everything-clothes, servants, their homes, and even each other's bed on occasion. The one thing they don't share: lovers. For while Linus prefers men, Robert prefers women...except when it comes to Linus.

As another Season nears its end, Robert can't ignore his growing jealousy. He hates watching Linus disappear from balls to dally with other men. Women are lovely, but Linus rouses feelings he's never felt with another. Unwilling to share his gorgeous friend another night, Robert has a proposition for Linus.

A proposition Linus flatly refuses-but not for the reasons Robert thinks. Still, Robert won't take no for an answer. He sets out to prove a thing or two to his best friend-yet will learn something about the heart himself.

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Rogues is the third in the Brook Street series, and while the characters have wandered in and out of the other books, the tale stands alone. I didn’t feel that I’d missed any huge chunks of character development by coming in at this point. Some of the secondary characters here star in their own stories, so readers will feel a warm familiarity as they read through this and other of Ava March’s works.

Bisexual Robert may find entertainment with this young widow or that, but his true friendship and hottest sex happen with his best friend Linus. Linus cuts his own wide swath through the available men, of which there seem to be plenty, and every few weeks he enjoys a hot romp with Robert. They’re neighbors, friends, and have plenty of benefits. It’s working fine, until Robert decides he wants more.

And his straightforward request for an exclusive relationship is met by a polite refusal. Completely perplexed and unwilling to let “no” stand, Robert launches into heavy pursuit, only to be thwarted repeatedly.

Linus’ reasons eventually surface, and while they seem a trifle flimsy and lacking in true understanding of his friend’s character, they do provide some entertaining cat and mouse scenes. These two know each other well, having been childhood friends, yet they still don’t know each other well enough to discern sincerity or to trust in certain things. They both grow over the course of the story and have something new with which to surprise the other by the end.

A better Regency scholar than I might find objections to the historical accuracy, but as a casual reader of the period, I found few breaks in tone or history to throw me out of the story, aside from wondering how Robert was so accepted into society when he was too poor to maintain his own servants. The period’s antipathy toward homosexual lovers did get a nod, yet Linus could still be considered a rakehell, though he was never known to approach the ladies. Perhaps his reputation was strictly among other men of the persuasion and this was mentioned elsewhere, or perhaps we must chalk this one up to bending the rules just enough to let the story exist.

All told, Rogues was fun and definitely hot, if a trifle light on plot, there being no external conflict. A pleasant afternoon’s read. 3.5 marbles 

The Card by George Seaton

Title:The Card

Author: George Seaton

Cover Artist: Deanna C. Jamroz

Publisher: MLR

Genre: memoir (memoir-ish?)

Length: 7000 words

The dynamic between fathers and sons is complex, most often least understood by the players themselves. But is it the father who does not know his son, or is it the son who does not know his father?

The discovery of a Father's Day card in a box---long ago shoved into a dark corner in a cellar---provides a revelation to a son, a gay son that shatters all previous conclusions about his father. Set in Denver, the ravages of a massive flood, and the disappearance of a nine-year-old girl, provide the background for a son's coming of age, and a father's eerie ability to "...read the hunch...," that is essential to his prowess as a cop.

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If this story isn’t a true event in author George Seaton’s life, it really feels like it—this story ranges from present day to back in time, back and forth, with stories and details that feel absolutely real.

The narrator’s father—he never outright claims to be George—is a Denver cop, and his abilities to solve cases and intervene in crises border on the uncanny. The father showed his abilities in incidents during the  1965 South Platte Flood that devastated Denver (there are still buildings with high-water marks showing) and also in a crime involving young Anne Marie Canino. The narrative isn’t linear at all—it jumps around from one detail to another, and then to present day, as the narrator considers this Father’s Day card, the only one he ever gave, and which he’s felt compelled to keep.

The story has the feel of an evening’s chat, maybe as if the narrator were sharing a comfortable sofa and a glass of whiskey with the reader, reminiscing about his youth and how he felt about his old man: unapproachable, often silent, more often absent, but still the lodestone of the family. The son knows his father’s  cases better than he knows the man, and each time he comes back to talk about this greeting card, the mixed feelings come through, and every time he talks about the past, a little more of both the father and the son come through. The son fears that he doesn’t measure up to expectations, and maybe that the father has detected too much at home.

There isn’t a romance element here exactly, although a teenage companion helps with early experiments. The narrator’s long term partner appears now and then, to tease about dragging boxes of keepsakes from home to home, repackaging when the cartons fall apart but seldom peeking inside. It takes his different perspective to see what the narrator might have found for himself long ago.

And that’s what will put the tear-prickles in your eyes. 4 marbles