A Picture is Worth...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a sculpture worth 1500 words for being 3D instead of 2D?

What's the model thinking? Or is one of the artists dreaming of flesh rather than clay under his hands? If you have up to 1000 words (it can be shorter, flash fiction is fun stuff) to tell us, send it and your news along. See How Thousand Word Thursday Works.

The rest of us will dream of the model turning around.

Devil at the Crossroads by Cornelia Grey

Title: Devil at the Crossroads
Author: Cornelia Grey
Buy at Riptide
Buy at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Jared Rackler
Genre: paranormal
Length: 72 pages, 19k words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, html

The devil covets more than his soul ...

Six years ago, Logan Hart sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest bluesman of all time—and now the devil has come to collect.

The irony is that Logan squandered his gift. High on fame, money, and drugs, he ignored his muse and neglected his music. And despite escaping showbiz in a moment of clarity, it’s too late to redeem himself. All that’s left is to try to go out with some dignity. Alas, the prospect of an eternity in Hell isn’t helping much with that goal.

But Farfarello, the devil who bought Logan’s soul, isn’t ready to drag him down to Hell quite yet. He’s just spent six years working his ass off to whip a bluesman into shape, and he refuses to let that—or the opportunity for more sinful pleasures with Logan—go to waste.

Review:

Ah, another taste of Cornelia Grey’s lovely, atmospheric prose: she can create such a scene with words you can practically reach in and pick things up. Here she’s using the language of despair, because Logan’s at the moment of reckoning.


Logan, desperate to escape his grimy coal town, makes a Faustian bargain with the devil he summons. Starting with nothing but a guitar and otherworldly help, he’s bought six years of what he wants most, or what he thinks he wants most. Staring down into red, red eyes at the moment of collection can make a man rethink his priorities.

The story is well contained in the blurb, so it’s the execution that makes the tale. Ms. Grey’s writing might as well be chocolate, sinfully rich and very smooth, so this story is all about how she drapes detail on that framework and brings Logan into some sort of redemption in his own eyes. Farfarello, of course, knows more than he’s saying.

This isn’t a romance, nor are the players equals, but there is understanding, there is hot sex, and there is the whiff of hope. The initial grimness has both a purpose and beauty, and the end has all the promise of sunrise.

Let’s just say that Dan’l Webster wouldn’t have come to this sort of resolution with Old Scratch, nor would Mephistopheles have said or done what Farfarello accomplishes here, but then, neither of those old devils ever heard Logan play the blues. 5 marbles

A Thousand Word Story from Eden Winters

 Cowboy by Eden Winters

One by one the midway lights dimmed, signaling the late summer crowd to amble through the gates marked, "Greenway County Fair." Young, old, short, and tall shuffled away in groups or singly toward the parking lot.

Shane shut down the Ferris wheel, making a quick round with a flashlight to ensure no distracted couple lay in the shadows between the control box and concession stand. He'd caught them there before, pretending not so notice a flash of panties or hands down each other's pants as he intoned, by rote, the carnival rules, such as they were. What did he care if some young woman showed her gratitude for the stuffed bear her date won, or if a couple of local guys found the shadows too tempting and decided to test the boundaries of their friendship. Didn't matter to Shane none—Lord knew he'd picked up plenty of short-term amusements on the job.

All clear. He tuned out the cheesy carnival music blaring from overhead speakers, sighing deeply and wishing the night might have turned out differently. He'd had his eyes on a cowboy, spotted the man every now and then, Stetson pulled down low over his forehead, jeans tight across firm thighs and muscular haunch.

They'd made eye contact a time or two, Shane casually mentioning what time he'd get off. Cowboy smiled, nodded, and walked away. For good, apparently.


Shane sighed again, resigned to spending the night once more with a cold beer and a hot right hand. He entered the fun house, checking for stragglers as he always did. A distorted image appeared of himself with a huge body and tiny head; the next mirror showed him ten feet tall and spaghetti stringy. Clearing the first room, he approached the door to the second, stopping in his tracks. There stood the cowboy, framed by two mirrors.

"Wha--?" Shane started to ask.

Cowboy grinned, pressing a fingertip to his lips.

Shane stepped closer, Cowboy stepped back, waving an admonishing finger.

Shane huffed out a breath. Cowboy huffed too.

Bending slightly to place the flashlight on the floor, Shane rolled his eyes upward to watch Cowboy mirror the gesture.

A slow smile spread across both his and the cowboy’s faces. That was to be the way of it, then? Determined to see how far the game would go, Shane slowly unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, watching Cowboy copy his every move. He slipped a hand inside the fabric, sliding his fingers across his chest, watching, spellbound, as a callused hand did the same to muscular pecs four feet away.

He pinched his nipple, imaging the cowboy's work-hardened digits, and moaned. One beat behind him, the pretend mirror image followed suit. Shane grew bold, snaking a hand down to heft the prominence in his jeans.

Faded denim bulged, the stranger obviously turned on. Slowly, slowly, Shane lowered his zipper, peeling his jeans and boxers down his hips to hang on his thighs. He held his breath, worried he might go too far. Cowboy thumbed open a button, the zzzzzzzzzzziippp of tiny metal teeth voicing willingness to up the ante. Shane gave his aching cock a few languid strokes, biting down on his lips to stifle groans as the cowboy did the same. An impressively hard cock came into view, ropey veins standing out in stark relief. A wide crown peeked out from a meaty fist, a pearly drop of fluid gathering at the cowboy's slit that Shane wanted to lick off. But when he stepped forward, his quarry once again backed away. Oh, hell, if this was all he was gonna get, he'd make the most of it.

He reached one hand under his balls, pressing his fingers beneath his sack, picking up the pace on his shaft with his other hand.

When he sped up, so did the cowboy; when he slowed down, the hardened hands stroking in tandem with him did too. Escalating the challenge, he teased, licking his palm to run over the head, pleasuring his audience by pleasuring himself. Outside a whistle blew, warning of a power shutdown in five minutes. His hand flew faster on his flesh, his balls drawing up, groin tingling.

Cowboy's nostrils flared wide, his eyes slightly unfocused. Shane wanted to reach out and touch so badly.

Their grunts and groans echoed throughout the fun house. All around, in every mirror, hands stroked cocks, faster and faster. Shane's hips bucked of their own accord, the Cowboy's faltering rhythm keeping sporadic time.

Deep inside the tension grew. Compressing beneath his balls with one hand, other hand steady pumping up and down, Shane threw back his head, eyes closed. He cried out, the answering cry sounding a few feet away more than merely an echo.

Pulse after pulse erupted from his flesh. As the last contraction gushed come from his body, a loud thwap sounded outside. The lights went off.

Shane fumbled for the flashlight, but when he hit the button and illuminated the surroundings, all he saw was dozens of Shanes with pants around their thighs and slowly wilting cocks.

Talk about the one that got away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now THIS is how a Thousand Word Thursday picture gets captioned! And Eden says there's more of this story.  ***tonguehangsout***  

But there's novels! Bo and Lucky novels!  The latest, from Rocky Ridge Books: Corruption

Renegade biker. Drug runner. Recovering addict. Wanted by the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau. But he isn’t a crook, he’s the law.

SNB Agent Bo Schollenberger’s solved his cases using his brains and not a gun, and with his partner, not alone. Now he’s handed a tough new case involving designer drugs that turn users violent. One false move could end his life as he immerses himself into a motorcycle gang to locate the source. His fate depends on how well he can impersonate someone else. Someone named Cyrus Cooper.

Cyrus is everything Bo Schollenberger isn’t, including the badass enforcer for a smuggling ring. He establishes pecking order with his fists and doesn’t take shit from anybody, not even the undercover agent who comes to help his case.

Simon “Lucky” Harrison’s always been the best, whichever side of the law he was on. Former trafficker turned SNB agent, he damned well ought to be undercover in this motorcycle gang, instead of hanging around the office going crazy with new policies, new people, and “inter-departmental cooperation” that sticks him in a classroom. Yet he’s passed over for the SNB’s biggest case in decades in favor of the rookie who shares his bed. A man Lucky thought he knew.

When survival depends on a web of tangled lies, lines blur, worlds collide, and a high stakes game turns friend to foe. Lucky knows the difference between Bo the agent and Cyrus the outlaw, but does Bo?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Get your copy at Rocky Ridge Books or All Romance eBooks. Good stuff, review coming soon! I loved Diversion (Book 1) and Collusion Book 2), click for reviews.  

Spirit Sanguine

Title: Spirit Sanguine
Author: Lou Harper
Buy at Samhain
Buy at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Genre: paranormal, vampire
Length:
Formats:
• Adobe Acrobat for Sony
• eBook ETI-2
• EPUB
• HTML
• Mobipocket/Kindle
• Rocketbook

Blurb:
Is that a wooden stake in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

After five years in eastern Europe using his unique, inborn skills to slay bloodsuckers, Gabe is back in his hometown Chicago and feeling adrift. Until he’s kidnapped by a young, sexy vampire who seems more interested in getting into his pants than biting into his neck.

Harvey Feng is one-half Chinese, one-hundred-percent vampire. He warns Gabe to stay out of the Windy City, but somehow he isn’t surprised when the young slayer winds up on his doorstep. And why shouldn’t Gabe be curious? A vegetarian vampire isn’t something one sees every day.

Against their better judgment, slayer and vampire succumb to temptation. But their affair attracts unexpected attention.

When Chicago’s Vampire Boss makes Gabe an offer he can’t refuse, the unlikely lovers are thrust into peril and mystery in the dark heart of the Windy City. Together they hunt for kidnappers, a killer preying on young humans, and vicious vampire junkies.

However, dealing with murderous humans and vampires alike is easy compared to figuring out if there’s more to their relationship than hot, kinky sex.

Product Warnings
Fangalicious man-on-man action, a troublesome twink, cross-dressing vampiress, and role-playing involving a fedora.



Review:

A fun take on vampires. We have vamps as people types, only moreso—the author has bloodsucking granola-boy, an undead mob boss, and a slayer who doesn’t know what to think any more.


Standard vampire tropes are here, turned slightly askew, and seen through a wavy lens, which matches the vamps and their backgrounds. Vamps can glamour, vamps can move preternaturally fast, and vamps can scheme, invent, and entice, and when they fall prey to human vices, they fall twice as hard. The need for not-blood is desperate for a vegetarian vampire, but don’t mistake this for another blood substitute seen on HBO, it’s got its own origin and effects.

The slayer Gabe is our POV character. When he’s confronted with new information, he’s flexible enough to reevaluate what he’s been taught and had taken for truth. Good thing, or he’d miss out on a lot of good times and some real live slayer-type adventures with twists. Vampires are not a uniform breed, and he’s got some adjusting to do.

The book has a structure we’ve seen from this author before, and she works it well. The stories have adventures that stand alone, but are connected through the relationship arc, which works best if read in order. The first story has both some of the best bits and some of the clunkier sections. The beginning had me doubting I could stay the distance because of the style, very infodumpy and awkward, but I persevered and was rewarded for it. Once Harvey gets a speaking part, the style picks up, becomes smoother and more organic, and the fun begins. There are some really lovely turns of phrase scattered through the work.

The second section is the longest and has some revelations for Gabe personally, including some plot elements that seemed extraneous. Perhaps later stories will capitalize on them, but they didn’t seem to advance the story here. The Las Vegas section at the end was fun, hazardous, and triumphant in turn, and was the strongest overall. Vampires as “other” and “dangerous” were up close and personal here, and most distant from being fangy humans.

Harvey, Gabe’s love-vamp, is fun but very much a fangy human most of the time. He’s not powerful as vampires go, and only in the last story does he really have a chance to shine. When he’s in either total granola mode or total vamp are when he’s most interesting. He is hanging on tight to the remnants of his humanity.

I had fun with this work, and was pleased to notice that there’s a free short on Amazon with Gabe and Harvey, which must fall some time after the events of at least the first section of this book. So I have one more vampalicious treat right away, and there’s a sequel on the way, scheduled for June. Harvey and Gabe have yet to totally solidify as a couple, and I’d like to see how it’s done.

I enjoyed the stories but was thrown a bit by the uneven style and odd inclusions. All the same, I’m making a note that there will be another helping of this couple to come my way this summer. 4 marbles

A picture is worth...

That cowboy's going to rope himself some-- Some what? Anyone with up to 1000 words to tell us, send it along, with news and stuff. See How Thousand Word Thursday Works.

Duet by Eden Winters

Title: Duet
Author: Eden Winters
Buy at Dreamspinner 
Buy at All Romance eBooks 
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Genre: Historical, paranormal, contemporary
Length: 200 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, html/zip, paperback

Blurb:

A conqueror’s decree can’t separate Aillil Callaghan from his Scottish heritage. He wears his clan’s forbidden plaid with pride, awaiting the day he becomes Laird, restores his family’s name, and fights to free Scotland from English tyranny. An Englishman in his home? Abomination! Yet the tutor his father engaged for Aillil’s younger brothers may have something to teach the Callaghan heir as well.

Violinist and scholar Malcolm Byerly fled Kent in fear, seeking nothing more than a quiet post, eager minds to teach, and for no one to learn his secrets. He didn’t count on his charges’ English-hating barbarian of an older brother, or on red-and-green tartan concealing a kindred soul. A shared love of music breaks down the barriers between two worlds.

Aillil’s father threatens their love, but a far more dangerous enemy tears them apart. They vanish into legend.

Two centuries later, concert violinist Billy Byerly arrives at Castle Callaghan—and feels strangely at home. Legends speak of a Lost Laird who haunts the fortress in wait of his lover’s return. Billy doesn’t believe in legends, ghosts, or love that outlasts life.

But the Lost Laird knows his own.

Review:


It’s not often that I like a book well enough to track it down and review it again after it’s been republished, but anyone who hangs around here already knows Eden Winters is an autobuy for me. This one’s been hanging fire because of my health issues (sorry about that) but it’s a comfort read, and if I couldn’t write about it, I could at least reread and feel better.


It’s even better this time around. Eden’s grown as a writer and has put a new loving sheen on what was already a great story. Not that I sat down to pick at what’s different this time, that would spoil the fun, but it’s smoother over all, more polished. For those who’ve never read it any other way, it will go down like the smoothest aged Scotch whiskey—a smoky, peaty mouthful.

This book doesn’t fit genre easily. The historical beginning is a heartbreaker, as Aillil and Malcolm find a love that isn’t welcome in their century, and even more heartbreaking when Aillil finds a way to transcend time. These characters have to claw their way to even be in the same place at the same time (and same time has an additional meaning here.)

They have a lot to overcome in the contemporary section as well, not just issues of "are we suited for each other?" Really, how do you cope with someone who has a headful of memories and hopes that you are just now finding out about, and you don’t quite believe in him anyway? And how do you keep from throwing a couple centuries’ worth of want at a guy who thinks he’s hallucinating?

This couple has some unusual challenges to overcome, but they do, and they probably deserve their HEA six times as much as most, for all they’ve gone through. Definitely one of my go-to books when I need hope. 5 marbles

Yes, it’s an ebook, the table of contents still matters

I hear a lot of squawking one way and another about ebooks vs paper books, and why should one be a slavish imitation of the other. Or maybe one is a pale copy of a form that’s functioned for centuries and has a more or less standard format. It’s an ebook, shouldn’t it be its own wonderful self?

Yes and no.

I’m all for innovation, I’m all for utilizing the tools available. What I’m not in favor of is throwing out a useful item or using it so badly that it might as well have been thrown out.

So whatever else an ebook has or doesn’t, a table of contents should be there doing its job.

Right now I’m mad, because I just finished an anthology. Here’s a form that lends itself to hopping around, reading a story here, skip a story, read a story there, come back and read one by that author who’s name caught your eye. Which is easy with a functional, meaning clickable, table of contents. TOC from here. For a lot of books, it might not matter so much, although just being able to get to “Cover”, “Chapter 1”, “author bio” might be enough. Basic navigation. But for non-fiction or anthologies or for anything where you might not read linearly, make the damned thing work. And make it work right.

What’s right, you ask?

Let’s start with internal links. If I want to get to Chapter 11 Understanding the Export Code, or the short story Great Balls of Fire by E. Lectriceel, give me something to touch and get there. And a name so I know where I’m going. If it’s part of what I can get to when I punch up the navigation pane on the Kindle, fine. If it’s an underlined blue link on the page, also fine. Don’t give me a non-linked line of text and expect me to flail around playing “guess your location”. A “back to TOC” button could be useful in some applications.

Just because ebooks don’t have page numbers doesn’t mean navigation is irrelevant. It just has to be done differently. Kindles will open to the last read location, and that’s important too. Because if the TOC is at the back of the book, and you consult it once, now every time you open that book, straight to the TOC you go. No picking up where you left off, even if it takes you days to finish the book. Even if you left off at a section break in the middle of the chapter, and you don’t recall which chapter. No, now the reader gets to flail around hunting, if she (ok, I) didn’t set a bookmark because I expected to be able to pick up at the last read location.

Will I use a bookmark in the future? Probably not, because most books don’t require an extra step to make this work, the Kindle does what the Kindle does. So I’m likely to forget. What’s more likely to happen is that when I choose books I’ll only remember that anthology=aggravation last time. Anything that gets between the reader and the story is a bad thing.

This one was particularly aggravating because there was a nonfunctional TOC at the beginning, starting me off with “hunt the location” because I wanted to read the stories in the order I wanted to read them, and I couldn’t just go “Click! I’m there!” And if one is looking at a TOC, does one think to look for a TOC? No you do not. You curse the unclickable text and play hunt the location. Which is not a fun game, I might add.

And then when I went to find the next story, I did click go to TOC, because I had to have some idea where to flail to, and guess what I got? Yes, a clickable TOC in the back of the book! Now my last read location function is useless! Even if I didn’t click!

So obviously a working TOC is possible to build in an ebook, and equally obviously, it is possible to put a TOC at the front where readers have been trained for a couple of centuries to look for it. And where it doesn’t screw up newfangled Kindle features.

So can we please have these two things at the same time?

Closet Capers Anthology

Title:   Closet Capers

Author:  Multiple

Buy at Dreamspinner

Buy at All Romance eBooks

Cover Artist:  Paul Richmond

Genre:  anthology

Length:  282 pages

Formats:  epub, mobi, pdf, zip/html, print

Blurb:

A dash of intrigue keeps any relationship fresh: laughing breathlessly over a little thrill, feeling clingy after a shiver of suspense, mucking through a minor mystery. This anthology offers a dozen light and humorous romantic short stories in which a quickly solved caper may be just the ticket to spice up any romance.

Kitsch Me by Mari Donne
Leveling Up by Jude Dunn
Philip Collyer vs. the Cola Thief by Amy Rae Durreson
A Kiss in the Dark by Eli Easton
Calberg's House Specialty Blend by Skylar Jaye
Small Change by Danni Keane
Lawrence Frightengale Investigates by Aidee Ladnier & Debussy Ladnier
The Whole Kit and Kaboodle by Ari McKay
Le Beau Soleil by Christopher Hawthorne Moss
Joie de Vivre by Pinkie Rae Parker
Made Good Under Pressure by Maja Rose
Tempest for a Teacup by Andrea Speed

Review, with stories in the order presented in the text:

A Kiss in the Dark – Eli Easton

Cute and fluffy: Lane gets kissed by a mysterious person during a power outage at a party, and spends the rest of the story working out who it was, assisted by his hypnotist roommate. Then of course he glomps the mystery man. Not sure I believed the disclaimer about Lane’s sex life before the kiss, but it’s fun watching him flail. A lesson in paying attention. 3.5

Calberg’s House Specialty Blend – Skylar Jaye

Low key, a romance based at first on Jonathan’s craving for coffee as roasted by Derik, and his efforts to track down an uninterested Derik after his coffee place closed. After, we don’t really know why they’re together, that’s all in the missing middle. 2

The Whole Kit and Kaboodle – Ari McKay

A nice exercise in ingenuity. A slow burn with no action exists between researcher Grey and librarian Henry, who is an expert in disguising his more flamboyant side at work. Grey lives to discover things though, and is rewarded with another problem to solve, more fun than the first. Definitely an Aw! ending. 4

Le Beau Soleil – Christopher Hawthorne Moss

Set in 1855 New Orleans, this story opens in a bordello, leading off wonderfully with atmosphere and characterization. Frankie the riverboat owner and gambler has to defend his reputation against accusations of cheating at cards, a very serious accusation. This story packs a lot into a few pages, and I’d like to read more from this author. A few stylistic twinges could be dispensed with, but overall, lovely work. 4.5

Leveling Up – Jude Dunn

Way too much crammed in here, coming off as infodumpy. We get Adam’s entire bio, likes, dislikes, heroes, work history....  And we get about 5% of the story as the relationship. While it’s rather fun to see Adam flail as he’s thrust into a situation he’s not expecting, everything around it is unbalanced. 2

Kitsch Me – Mari Donne

Very cute story of a couple who aren’t totally sure of their solidity. In the course of unraveling a mystery concerning “Jesus toasts”, they learn a great deal about each other. Great external plot and solution, and lovely dithering about the state of their love. 4.5

Made Good Under Pressure – Maja Rose

Third person, present tense, which totally rocks this story for the attitude. Set in 1926 New York, it should totally rock the Jazz Age slang, which it doesn’t, and there’s too many anachronisms (e.g. snarkily, access as a verb) and high-falutin’ words. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever seen the word “albescent” before.) The bones of the story are good, but the mismatch between language, characters, and setting is hard to get past. 3

Tempest for a Teacup – Andrea Speed

In this charming, tongue-in-cheek sendup of the noir detective story, our modern day private eye and his decent-human-being cop boyfriend have a dognapping case to solve. Beautiful entwining of the romance and the external plot. The detective, Jake, is a hoot, and it’s totally clear why Kyle both left him and then has to come back. 5

Small Change – Danni King

Dom, the shy caretaker of a miniature village tourist attraction, keeps finding his tiny figures doing unplanned and occasionally naughty things. He’s set to find the culprit with the help of the train-driver he’s secretly fond of, and a couple of mysteries get unraveled. Sweetly done. 4.5

Lawrence Frightengale Investigates by Aidee Ladnier and Debussy Ladnier

The star of a horror movie feature and his lover Nicholas, aka Myrna Boy, get caught in the theft of a valuable show artifact when they need to perform flawlessly in order to sidestep the station’s internal politics and not disappoint the fans. A good demonstration about not making assumptions, and a beneficial resolution all around.  Not exactly a romance, more of a Nick and Nora caper, and something about the style I couldn’t quite submerge myself in. 4

Joie de Vivre – Pinkie Rae Parker

Jules returns to his aunt’s house, now his as a bequest, to find dilapidation and his childhood nemesis come to fix the roof. The premise was charming, as was the setting in rural France, but big chunks of exposition made for a somewhat wooden read. Some information set aside as a footnote should have been worked into the text. Given Jules’ relationship with his aunt, his later behavior made him unsympathetic, and Henri wasn't a whole lot better, though possibly he's merely oblivious rather than mean with his rude remarks. 2.5

Philip Collyer vs. the Cola Thief - Amy Rae Durreson

Very cute story about sales manager Phil and IT guy Kester who’s both pursuing Phil and trying to help him find the sneak who’s making off with the cans of soda. A charming look at good intentions and how time changes us, or doesn’t. Sweet and funny, and the best twist ever on why you shouldn’t mess with the brother of a pregnant woman. 5

As with all anthologies, quality will vary. Three of the stories I consider very questionable inclusions, one needed a firmer editorial hand, and the rest are fun. 3.75 marbles

A Picture is Worth...

Looks like a story there, huh? Anyone want to tell it? ;)

If inspiration strikes up to 1000 words worth (honest, flash fiction is great!)  send it along. See How Thousand Word Thursday Works.

Chase the Ace by Clare London

Title: Chase the Ace
Author: Clare London
Publisher listing at Amber Allure
Buy at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 24k (novella)
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, prc, Microsoft Reader

Blurb:

Newly single in his late twenties, and looking for more fun than he gets from his boring job, Daniel Cross soon discovers the lure of social media. After a few hiccups, he’s excited at the chance of tracking down his old mates from the Scorching Summer Sports Club of 1990. He lost touch with his “Gang of Four” after that summer, but now he launches a personal quest to find out what kind of man each boy has become.

It starts well with a link to the first boy’s current address, through a mutual friend on Facebook, until Dan realises he’s been chatting online to the wrong man. Nick Carson isn’t an old school friend at all. It’s a genuine mistake, and Nick isn’t offended. He offers to accompany Dan on the trip to find the others. It’s the first step to friendship and something more for both of them.

For Dan, the reunions with the “Gang of Four” range from startling, heartening and disturbing. Nick’s company is a constant support, though neither of them are prepared for the exposure of personal secrets they’d thought were long-hidden. Dan begins to suspect that he’s really looking for a direction in his own life—and the excitement and purpose he craves may be closer to home than a quest with its roots in a boyhood dream.

Review:

After that blurb, there’s not a lot I can say that’s spoilery—the story is now a matter of how rather than “what”, but it’s still a pleasant afternoon’s read.


Daniel’s remarkably social media-inept for someone of his age bracket, which is good for a chuckle or three, even if it’s a bit contrived. Facebook friending leads him to a road trip with someone who isn’t the old sports club pal he originally thought. Nick’s up for an adventure, and since he drives and Daniel doesn’t, it’s a good thing that he’s got enough flexibility to keep going as they gather addresses.

He’s very good company, too, which leavens the encounters with Daniel’s now-grown friends, which range from entertaining with a side of surprise to shocking and painful. In every visit, Daniel finds a new puzzle in himself, in how he could have overlooked things then, and what he wants for himself now. Nick stays in the background during these encounters, but he has some very good questions later, and Daniel uses the answers to grope towards his own true desires.

I was a bit startled to find an old misconception about cross-dressing trotted out, but other than that I enjoyed the read, watching Nick and Daniel find more intimacy than they expected. There’s more to Nick than meets Daniel’s eye at the beginning, and of course, Daniel’s psyche is kind of hanging out for Nick to get to know because of the nature of their journey. And the sex is hawt.

The chemistry between them is good, and we’re left with the feeling that this road trip is only the beginning of something wonderful. 4 marbles

Review policy reviewed

Now that I'm back, hopefully for the duration, here's how it works if you want my opinion.


Email me at Cryselle C AT gmail DOT com with a MOBI file, a cover art pic, the blurb, and a buy link or two, and let me know anything special about the book, like if it's your first or it's up for an award, stuff like that. I'm willing to look at m/m, m/m/m, and m/m/f.

Now that I'm not reviewing at Jessewave's, I can go back to my previous policy of the occasional ladybits among all the guybits. Anyone who doesn't like ladybits can hold their noses if they like. My blog, my rules. I'm still not reviewing het, but half the world's people are women, I'm a woman, and I refuse to act like women have cooties. A huge number of gay men have had relationships with women, been married, fathered children, might even still be friends with the ex, and all that might be in the story. I want to read that story. Women are part of gay men's lives as something besides Obligatory Pushy Best Friend. Get over it.


Because I think it takes a certain amount of courage to send me a review request, I've gone back to my previous policy. When I was at Dark Divas and Jessewave's, if I touched it, I had to complete it, no matter what. Given my druthers, I won't reward an author's risk taking with a low mark that they don't see coming. I will give an author the option to post or not if I can't give the book at least a 3. I did this before, and some folks have taken me up on that, and others have said post. If I can't honestly say 3 or better, and 3 is "I liked it", I will contact you first.

I could review on a publisher's request, in which case it's buffet rules. I touched it, I take it. They pubbed it, they can stand behind it. The rating, whatever it may be, gets posted.  No confidence? Don't ask me, cause I calls 'em like I sees 'em. I have given out ones. I have a symbol for ACK!

I also give 5s and everything in between.

A story that pleases me will have a couple of well developed characters, a relationship, and something plotwise outside the relationship. I like plot, that's the point of a book. I like sex, too, but sex has to drive the plot. The daily drivel of the character's lives in between sex scenes is not plot -- plot has conflict and resolution, and it needs to make sense. Logic fail will get noticed out loud and if I can't find the plot beyond "hawt guys fuck" you can call me Cryssy Crankypants.

Things that stop me in my tracks:

•  Rape, unless it's a past trauma and offstage
•  Incest, especially twincest. A survivor is fine, but current relationship -- NO
•  Non-con -- don't kid yourself, the right name is rape. 
•  All the squicky stuff that epublishers put in their 'don't submit to us' list
•  Most BDSM. Personal preference, no apologies. Please don't offer it. Absolutely no pain play, blood play, flogging, bondage, humiliation, gagging, CBT. If it requires implements, I don't want to read it, I don't have to explain why, and I don't want to be wheedled for exceptions. Wheedle or push, and I will review, using boilerplate. "Book, DNF, author, TSTL."*
• Het. Really, people. I'm not the right reviewer for that.*

Iffy stuff:

• Dub-con. We might not agree about where the line is. I'm likely to be more restrictive in my definition than you are.
• If it turns out to be "rape him til he likes it" you will suffer the consequences.I don't read het romance for a reason and I utterly rejected the genre for the prevalence of this trope.
• Soul mates -- this one hits the gag reflex, no matter what the writing looks like, 99 times out of a hundred, and the hundredth one is probably involving a non-human. A deep bonding after personalities get explored is fine, just no "only one personnnnnn in the universssssse for meeeeeeeee!" 
• BDSM of the non-implement variety. Psychological aspects might be okay, but know you're taking a risk.

 I'm good with most genres, you've already seen the exclusions. Contemporary, paranormal, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, whatever, bring it on.

My qualifications as a reviewer, well nothing academic, but would you really want someone doing lit-crit on your romance? I offer a habit of devouring words and some critical thinking skills**. My page at Goodreads should tell you something, that's maybe half of what I've read in my life.

I really do open every file hoping to love what I'm reading. 

*Yes, someone tried. Learn from their error.
**If you have plot holes and know it, you might not like that about me. 

A Picture is Worth...

Are they an established couple? New lovers entwined for the first time? Solidifying a relationship? Wouldn't we love a little ficlet (please 1000 words max, or I'll glower, make you expand it, and convince you to publish it) to explain why these two are cuddled together.

See the page How Thousand Word Thursday Works if you're inspired to write, and the rest of us will say AW.

Help for one of our own

You know Patricia Nelson, even if you don't know Patricia Nelson. She's the reviewer who recommended books with her whole heart as Pattycake, Patty, or Trish. She's the Facebooker who's offered a kind word to the sad or laughed with the happy. And she's the fellow m/m reader who lost her husband just before the holidays.

Becky Condit not only has summed up the situation but done something about it. Here's how she explains:

Pat read and reviewed over 600 books, primarily in the m/m romance genre in 2013. She is a strong supporter of gay rights and a respected member of the review and publishing community. Her husband had several episodes of chronic breathing problems during the fall and in December he succumbed to the disease. Pat now lives alone in a small town in Arkansas. She faced the holidays bravely but very much alone. Her only car is giving her trouble and she has the final expenses of her husband's illness and death to pay. The m/m romance community is a tight knit group and we take care of our own. Let's help Patricia get past this point in her life and move forward knowing her friends are at her side.

Pat has been a fan, friend, and confidant to many. She's made us smile with her emoticons and stickers, and brought smiles when we felt down. She has promoted the sales of hundreds of books. And she is a truly lovely person.Please give what you can. Every dollar will help.

I can't say it better than that. Please reach out as you can. Let's keep Patricia warm and fed. She's one of us. She could be us. The Patricia Nelson Support Fund is here.

The Queen's Consorts by Kele Moon

Title:   The Queen’s Consorts

Author:   Kele Moon

Publisher listing:   Loose Id

All Romance eBooks listing   

Cover Artist:  Scott Carpenter

Genre:  Fantasy, Menage

Length:  95,200 words (long novel)

Formats:  epub, mobi, pdf, prc, html

Blurb: The Queen’s Consorts. Just laying eyes on one is a death sentence. So when Sari, who spent most of her life on the streets, ends up entangled in a steamy relationship with the two most forbidden men on the planet, she knows it can’t end well.

After a brutal attack, Sari’s taken to the Sacred City, exposing her to the secret lives of the Rayians who rule in the long lost queen’s absence. It’s in this darkly sexual world where she first meets the legendary consorts.

Too handsome and talented for their own good, Calder and Taryen have learned to trust only each other in order to survive. Bred to be feared warriors and exclusive companions to a queen, instead they’re slaves to other Rayians desires for them.

Their brutal lives make the two consorts hesitant to care for Sari when she’s unexpectedly dumped in their laps, but they soon discover she’s different from the cruel women they’re used to serving. Drawn to Sari on a soul deep level, Calder and Taryen can’t seem to stop themselves from going back for one more taste of the beautiful outsider… even when it puts the fate of the entire world in jeopardy.

Review:

In retrospect, I should have turned this one down. I’m probably not the target market, because I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy, and therefore have some expectations about world building, like consistency combined with cause and effect.

If I were reading only for the sexxors, I probably would have been happy. Sari, Taryen, and Calder are hot, and if one can dissect out the background, they do well together, moving from attraction with “oh no mustn’t touch” to “oh no but have to touch” to “touchy touchy touch” in what is a nicely paced and rather hot progression. In place it’s m/m, m/f, or m/m/f, elsewhere the action is m/f/m, and no one’s left to be the clap and cheer section. Sex scenes are occasionally marred by stilted dialog.

HOWEVER.

The world building is essential to the story, and it’s lacking.

This is a world that by definition has gone through the kind of cataclysm that should have brought governments crashing, economies crashing, populations crashing, and generally become post-apocalytic. The weather went through an abrupt and apparently irreversible change in such a way as to ruin agriculture and keep it ruined, but hey, everything’s in greenhouses  under lights, no big. It’s nice, orderly, and enough to support the entire population of the world and still have endless acres for flowers. The sun hasn’t been seen in close to 20 years, but only the street urchins seem to be starving and the elite sport tans.

The ruling class, the Rayians, can be identified at a glance, women are outnumbered three to one by men and are considered divine apparently just because they’re scarce, but an elite female can be kept as a sex slave without comment. Not only that but she’s still virgin, even though she’s been the chief instructor for “how men should pleasure women” classes. At apparently age fifteen. Or maybe younger. It's very handwavy.

An elite class woman can appear out of the blue without introductions and antecedents, and be totally accepted, at least at on the surface. Sorry, that didn’t work in the Regency era, and it doesn’t convince me here. This is a small enough group that everyone would know everyone, or know their people, but Sari’s included in the very top levels without a blink. There’s only one obvious candidate of this age bracket, and no one aside from She Who Knows even thinks of it, and she seems to be insane.

Most of them seem to be insane, actually, resulting in an entire flock of the sort of Evil Harpy #2 characters generally reviled in m/m. Their entire thought process seems to be “let’s torture two of the three people who could really, really, get even with us if our grip ever slips.”  Otherwise, not a hint of nuance, and no one actually seems to be running things.  

Everyone finally does get laid, wrongs are righted, political structures remade, the sun finally comes out, yay. There’s a reason the old queen traveled around the realm, but Sari’s fine with sitting in one place licking her wounds for more than half a year while the problems of her people and her country *that she could be fixing* are allowed to persist. She’s traveled the world undetected (!) in her earlier days, seeing the troubles first hand, so she has no excuse for delay. Even Sari describes herself as useless during this period, and she's right. Her consorts have been ruined with their sycophancy training: neither Taryen nor Calder kick her butt into action.

In the name of genre I’m willing to accept some of the more fantastical elements, such as facility of languages, elemental connections, and even, I choke to say it, the soul-mate issue. However, in exchange, I want the ordinary parts of the story to make sense, and plot points that are made to seem important to actually be important. The true heart issue is one that felt tacked on - apparently one needs to be a genetic weirdo to be a kind person on this planet.  Many issues I’ve mentioned and several I have not have been tossed at the story without their ramifications being considered, and I am not one of the readers who will shrug at their mismanagement because the sex is hot.

I actually set this book aside at the 25% mark for several months and would not have finished it except for the sense of obligation.  Read it for the sex and the relationship, and gloss past everything else if you value the fantasy genre without the sex. 2 marbles.

Play Me, I'm Yours by Madison Parker

Title: Play Me, I’m Yours
Author: Madison Parker
Buy from Publisher: Harmony Ink 
Buy from All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Catt Ford
Genre: YA contemporary
Length: 244 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

Fairy Tate. Twinklefingers. Lucy Lu. Will the taunting ever end? Lucas Tate suffers ridicule because of his appearance and sensitive nature. When he’s not teased, he’s ignored, and now he doesn’t know which is worse. His one comfort in life is his music; he feels unloved by everyone. What he wants more than anything is to find a friend.

Much to his dismay, both his mom and a schoolmate are determined to find him a boyfriend, despite the fact Lucas hasn’t come out to them. His mom chooses a football player who redefines the term “heartthrob,” while Trish pushes him toward the only openly gay boy at Providence High. But Lucas is harboring a crush on another boy, one who writes such romantic poetry to his girlfriend that hearing it melts Lucas into a puddle of goo. All three prospects seem so far out of his league. Lucas is sure he doesn’t stand a chance with any of them—until sharing his gift for music brings him the courage to let people into his heart.


Review:

I’ve had this book for a while, and it’s been through the Rainbow Awards since I collected the story. It placed tenth in LGBT Young Adult, and the story deserves that accolade. It’s a lovely read, even for someone who usually gets more smuts in her stories.


This story reminds me exactly why I’m glad high school doesn’t need do-overs—that’s one brutal environment and the reader gets totally sucked into the hostile, hormonally fueled setting. The book is intended for 14-18, and they’ll recognize exactly what Lucas is up against. He’s often the butt of the joke because he’s not one of the cookie cutter popular people. He’s gay and just working out the implications, he’s a skilled musician with eclectic tastes (how nerdy!), and he slinks around trying not to be noticed, which is a lot like a kick-me sign. His parents don’t understand, his brother’s horribly embarrassed by him, and he doesn’t have a lot of friends. Life kind of sucks.

He does make some friends, one is the obligatory Pushy Girlfriend, another is an accepting jock who has a delightfully precocious “don’t care what others think, much” attitude. The other gay classmate has a lot of contradictions and prickles, and only kids this age could mistake being gay as enough for total compatibility. Lucas learns a lot from Donovan, not all of it good.

Lucas’ eventual love interest is extremely laid back, and while he comes with some issues, he’s got it remarkably well together. He’s a lovely first boyfriend, and almost too good to be true. Poor Lucas is so traumatized by everything else that’s happened that he probably couldn’t cope with a problematic boyfriend, so it’s kind of nice but a little simplistic that Love Interest is such a restful kind of guy.

Several supporting characters need to be smacked upside the head. Two of them effect some transformations of their own, but it took so long I was gnashing my teeth, particularly as one of them should have been reigned in, by force if necessary, a long time earlier. I found Lucas’ entire family problematic for one reason or another, even the supportive one.

The ending made me smile; not everything is perfect, but it’s enough better that Lucas has hope. One incident toward the end had me going “huh? These aren’t 15/18 year olds talking”, but what they said needed saying. If it wasn’t what I’d expect this crew to say, it’s what they should be decent enough humans to say. Unfortunately, it didn’t ring entirely true, even if I wanted it to be. The situation sprang a lot on the group and they showed the desirable maturity without having any time to process, which is not how I understand teenagers.

I think I’d point readers at the younger end of the intended spectrum at this book, both for the message of hope and for some hint of potential crap to come, although it has just enough sex in it to make me rethink it to 16+ unless the book-buying parent is cool with some oral sex. It’s a nice read for adults, and will make a lot of people besides me grateful that high school is behind us. Lucas does find love, some acceptance, and grows some spine, and his story left me happy.   4 marbles

A Picture is Worth...

The Morning After, 1884

Okay, it's not Thursday, but since I've been not blogging for so long, I have a whole bunch of Thursdays to make up for. And the dissipated mess that is these three guys just begs for an explanation of what they were up to all night long!

Any author who has a flash length story (honest, a thousand words should be the upper limit for posting here, (if it's longer I will do my VERY BEST to make you publish it and then I'll help you promote it, we've had a couple of published stories start from one of these prompts. And a couple more stories that should have been pubbed.), send it along, with your news and such. (See the page about How Thousand Word Thursday Works). If one of my older pics works for you, wonderful, there's no time limit on inspiration. See tag Thousand Word Thursday or Prompt to find them all. See the tag Free Read to find what other authors have accomplished. Some great reading there!