Favorites of 2014

Please join me for a recap of my favorite reads from 2014. Some are from long time favorite authors, others from new to me writers, and all of them made me very, very happy.

Thanks to everyone who came by this year, and thanks to guest reviewers Feliz Faber and Eden Winters, who might be coaxed into more reviews. Thanks to the publishers and authors who offered books, and thanks to the readers who thought I might have something useful to say.

Here's to a fabulous 2015! And keep reading!

Blog Tour and Review: Canning the Center by Tara Lain

Welcome, Tara Lain and readers! I've just read Tara's new release, Canning the Center, and want to recommend it to you as well. Tara's stopping by with some goodies, giveaways, and above all, a good story. Check out the review, and sign up for a goodie or two.If you like hunky football players, torch singers, and some crossed motives, this is your book for sure. Let's start off with the review.

Six foot seven inch, 300 pound Jamal Jones loves football, so when he finds out the ultra-conservative owner of his new pro football team fired their current center because he’s gay, bisexual Jamal decides to stay in the closet and hang with the females. Then, at a small drag show, he comes face-to-face with his sexual fantasy in the form of Trixie LaRue, a drag queen so exquisitely convincing she scrambles Jamal’s hormones -- and his resolve to nurse his straight side.

Trevor Landry, aka Trixie LaRue, hides more than his genitals. A mathematician so brilliant he can’t be measured, Trevor disguises his astronomical IQ and his quirk for women’s clothes behind his act as a gay activist undergrad at Southern California University.

To Trevor, Jamal is the answer to a dream -- a man who can love and accept both his personas. When he discovers Jamal’s future is threatened if he’s seen with a guy, Trevor becomes Trixie to let Jamal pass as straight. But Trevor risks his position every time he puts on a dress. Is there a closet big enough to hold a football pro and a drag queen?

~*~*~*~*

I really enjoyed the hours I spent reading these two men’s story. While I didn’t read the first book in the series, that’s my loss and not for long! Both men, while very different, had their strengths and their flaws, and had to work their way to an honest relationship.

Jamal, the soft spoken rookie NFL player, knows going in that being open about his bisexuality is going to create friction. If not from his fellow players, then from management, and he’s not encouraged by the object lesson that puts him in the starting lineup. He’s an honest man and resents the deception, and it only gets harder once he meets the fabulous Trixie Larue.

Jamal’s head over heels for Trevor as Trevor and Trevor as Trixie, who sings torch songs with pointed messages. Trevor has a pretty good idea of what Jamal’s up against in the way of keeping secrets and of opposition and support for being true to himself in public. After all, Trevor is part of the problem--he's behind the heat getting turned on the team about GLBT acceptance.  Still, he’s willing to appear in public as Trixie to keep Jamal in the team’s good graces.

Trevor was a slightly problematic character for me. He was willing to function far below capacity and starve himself intellectually in a field where brilliance shows early and quirks are practically required to fit in. Perhaps that was his point, but the sense of screaming WTF was a little loud. I wasn’t sold on his family situation either: his severely demented mother read like she was 80 years old, though his hateful brother rang unfortunately true. Just—so much was stuffed farther down than I could buy into. It did make his final blossoming that much sweeter. He also demonstrates some of the practical problems of dressing in drag, from the discomfort of tucking to how to camouflage an Adam’s apple.

Football of course permeates the story, not too much for someone who isn’t especially into the game, but enough for a very firm foundation. Jamal’s teammates have some complexity: Boogaloo’s in over his head in a few directions but wants the best for his sister and teammates, and Jet the quarterback wants to focus on the game and leave personal matters outside the stadium. Jamal’s family are good, loving people, with a fair amount of idealism. A few characters are drawn with something less than subtlety: Lavinda becomes Evil Harpy Version 5, but she does force a situation into directions no one would at first believe were positive.

The plot kept me turning pages, because Trevor and Jamal kept bashing into each other's issues, whether it was picketing outside the game, prospects evaporating with the truth, or getting introduced to family. The sex was hot, although two guys with that much to lose were awfully carefree about sex in public parking lots.

The ending had a certain “ripped from the headlines” quality that made me want to dance for the appropriateness of the justice and for the joy that Jamal and Trevor can openly take in one another at last. Whatever was drawn with a slightly heavy hand gets burned away in the final chapters, and the book left me with a smile and a sigh. 4.25 marbles

Now for the goodies! Find your copy at Dreamspinner, Amazon, and all your favorite retailers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 23. Her best­selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul­mate husband and her soul­mate dog in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”

Website: http://taralain.com/
Blog: http://www.taralain.com/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/taralain
FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/taralain
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4541791.Tara_Lain
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/taralain/

Excerpt:

Trevor stuck out a hand. “My name’s Trevor. Pleased to meet you.”

Jamal reached out to take the offered handshake and—whoops! In one gentle pull on Trevor’s arm that clearly required no effort on Jamal’s part, Trevor was up against that huge chest. “I’m Jamal. I don’t mean to be presumptuous. Just tell me to stop. But if I don’t kiss you again soon, I’m a dead man.”

Trevor smiled up into those dark brown eyes. “I would never want to be accused of murder.”


Such full, full lips. They moved slowly down, down to Trevor’s. The first touch sent a flash like lightning through every nerve, and he shivered.

Jamal pulled back. “Cold?”

“Quite the contrary.” He wrapped his arms tightly around the bunny’s neck.

Invitation delivered. Jamal’s mouth closed over Trevor’s. Those lips were just as soft as they looked, but not as silky as the tongue that slipped into his mouth. Oh my, a girl could get drunk on this sweetness. Trevor opened and received, allowing exploration—and sharing it. His poor abused cock, which had spent a couple of hours locked between his asscheeks, wanted to stretch in a whole new direction. Sweet God, he hadn’t throbbed like this in ages. One leg crawled up Jamal’s ass all by itself—and it was a long way up. Too far to get his bulge anywhere near its rightful companion. His eyes popped open. “Well, damn. Not much chance of sexing you up unless we’re lying down.”

Jamal chuckled. “Oh no, sweet thing, there are advantages to all these muscles.”

He picked Trevor up under the butt. Yes! Contact.

Trevor looked into those melted chocolate eyes. “I am estimating your equipment fully matches in size the other proportions of your body?” He wrapped his legs around Jamal’s surprisingly narrow waist.

Instead of getting all peacocky like he had the right to, Jamal kind of blushed. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Surely you jest.”

He grinned, but he was breathing hard. “So you don’t mind big all over?”

“Not one little bit.”

Jamal rode Trev up and down against his cock. Oh God, that felt so good. Trevor never had decent sex because he had this reputation to uphold, and Trixie never had sex at all. Jesus, that added up to one crappy sex life. But the bunny was like a world in the middle. With Jamal, for the first time, he got to be both Trevor and Trixie and that was whole and perfect and hot! “You might want to stop unless you would enjoy watching me wash these jeans.”

“Better yet, how about I take you out and we get to know each other before I quit football and take up fucking you full time?”

Who could laugh at a time like this? But he still did. He hugged that big, muscular frame tight and rubbed his cock against Jamal’s huge bulge until they were both gasping. “No. No, I think you better write the resignation letter.”

“Deal. But I could take us out for root beer floats first.”

Trevor stopped. “I love root beer.”

Jamal held him still, their cocks still squashed in bliss. “You’re kidding. No one likes root beer but me.”

“I do. It’s my favorite.”

“There’s this diner—”

“Okay, fuck sex. I need a root beer float and a hamburger.”
*****
Read the rest: Dreamspinner, Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Barnes and Noble

An Angel in Eyeliner by Hunter Frost

Title: An Angel in Eyeliner
Author: Hunter Frost
Purchase at Amazon 
Purchase at Smashwords 
Cover Artist:  C.M. Walker
Genre:  holiday, contemporary
Length:  10k
Formats:  MOBI, ePub

All Mitch wants for Christmas is a quiet holiday free from grief. Patching up the target of a mugging in the back alley of his bar seems to throw that wish right out into the cold Chicago night. But the tatted, pierced, and skinny-jean wearing Keller Graham is fearless and proves to be more than a pair of icy blue eyes lined in black. Keller may be a thief, but Mitch never expected him to steal his lonely heart.

 Holiday insta-love, both charming and a bit far fetched. Mitch, former military medic turned barkeeper, rescues Keller from some toughs trying to rob him, and they end up spending what would be their lonely and grim Christmases together. Keller’s banter is witty, the kind that keeps the world at bay until he chooses to let someone in. Mitch is more literal. This works to his detriment toward the end of the story, where he doesn’t look past the first and obvious interpretation, and ends up eating his words.


The contrast between the gruff ex-medic and the homeless artist works to bring them together. Mitch is still living in the past though his present and future are secure, and happiness died for him when his lover was killed. Keller lives from hand to mouth but always in the present, with an eye to the future that’s going to be better than now, and he may be the happiest man Mitch ever met. Keller has a way of refocusing Mitch’s attention to the here and now.

The timeline and why Mitch has the bar didn’t make sense to me, which got in the way of the story a bit. The sex is fade to black, which is fine, almost necessary, because the word count is needed elsewhere. The story feels kind of short for all that’s been crammed into it: I could wish the author would take another 30,000 words and let this couple unfold more slowly. Mitch is smitten to the point of it feeling out of character based on everything he reveals of his past, even with an omen.

However, I don’t want to be a total Grinch about this story: it did make me smile and feel hopeful for Mitch and Keller. 3 marbles

This story is also part of the Boughs of Evergreen anthology, which is available in 2 parts (This story's in Vol 2) and also as one large volume.

The Boyfriend Mandate by River Jaymes

Title: The Boyfriend Mandate
Author: River Jaymes
Publisher: Self published/ Amazon
Cover Artist: n/a
Length: Novel (284 pages)
Formats: Mobi

Guest review from Feliz

Stuntman and two-time cancer survivor Memphis Haines excels at beating the odds. When he’s presented with the opportunity to help his ex-boyfriend with a charity event, he jumps at the chance to make up for the devastating way he left Tyler ten years ago. Memphis might have taken the college geek’s virginity, but the former mathelete is now a hell of a head turner. And Dr. Tyler Hall’s cool reserve is a challenge Memphis can’t resist. A self-confessed rule breaker and line crosser, he keeps turning up the heat with one goal in mind: to melt the man’s composure.

Tyler Hall sticks to one simple mandate: no more dating ex-boyfriends. Ever. He certainly isn't interested in hooking up with Memphis Haines, the ex who jumps off buildings, dodges explosions, and poses for designer underwear ads. Ten years ago, falling for Memphis changed Tyler’s life. The man’s abrupt departure turned his world inside out. But he moved on long ago. Besides, he has a clinic for the homeless to run, patients to take care of, and no time to deal with the trouble his ex brings. Memphis, however, seems determined to rehash the past. And his boxer-dropping grin, hard body, and confident charm are resurrecting ultra-hot memories best not remembered, making Tyler’s rule harder and harder to keep...

I enjoyed the first book in this series, The Backup Boyfriend, so I could barely wait for this one to come out.

And I really liked this book too, although not quite as much as the first in the series. More about this later. First the pros:

The writing was wonderful, catchy and smooth (aside from those annoyingly overused expletives--"Judas Priest" and "Jesus Haploid Christ"--ehm, wait, what?) Tyler, whom I didn't care for all that much during the first book, really grew on my during this one. In the first boo, he was a cold, detached asshole, but the details on his backstory revealed here made me understand him much better, made him appear human, and by the end, I'd come to care for him a lot.


Memphis, however....of course he was adorable like he was meant to be, on the surface at least, but he also had some rather unappealing traits. For one, he was manipulative to a fault, not only with Tyler, but also with everyone else around him. He played the "poor me cancer survivor" card a little too often, and even though his remorse seemed real, I though Tyler forgave him too easily. Then again, the two had some real good chemistry between them, too. 

Alec and Dylan from book one made a few cameos, and I loved meeting them again; I especially loved to see insecure Dylan giving and receiving advice from Tyler, of all people. As Tyler and Memphis's relationship grew closer, so did their group of friends. Meeting Julissa was another pro; she's a great female character, so well developed even in her rather minor role that I almost wished she'd get her own book at some point.

However, I somewhat missed Noah. Even though much of the book was set at his place, Noah's presence wasn't as strongly felt as it was during the first book. Since Noah is kind of like the glue that keeps them all together (and my secret favorite of them all, admittedly) I was glad to see a new scrap of development during the epilogue, hinting at Noah finding happiness of his own in the not-so-far future.

It's always hard to come up with a reason for a decade-long separation of "star-crossed" lovers. Although the reasons for Memphis's taking off in the first place took some suspension of disbelief, they were toroughly explored later and explained to a point where I almost--almost could relate... which was the biggest issue I had with the book: the almost, even more so since I couldn't quite put my finger on what actually bothered me about Memphis and Tyler's breakup-and-reunion-trope. IN the end, I guess it might've been a case of it's not the book, it's me, so... as taste is subjective, I think other readers need to find out for themselves.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and commendable read, although I'm looking forward to Noah's story even more now.

From All of Us to All of You by Ofelia Grand

Title: From All of Us to All of You

Author:  Ofelia Grand

Purchase at Amazon

Purchase at All Romance  eBooks                    

Cover Artist:  N/A

Genre:  Contemporary, holiday

Length:  12k

Formats:  Mobi, epub, PDF

Simon hates the Holidays. It’s the same every year - awaiting the dreaded Christmas Eve, when his father gets drunk, while the family fake Christmas spirit and strain to hear the TV over Dad’s snoring. This year, Simon’s sister is celebrating Christmas elsewhere, leaving him to deal with their parents on his own. But there’s a glimmer of hope. A work colleague introduces Simon to her son Hannes at the Lucia Day celebrations, the trouble being that Simon mistakenly believes it’s a blind date, and as if that isn’t embarrassing enough, Hannes wants them to be friends, and Simon’s starting to see signals that aren’t there. He’s beginning to wonder if he’ll make it through Christmas with his sanity intact.

~*~*~*~*

What a sweet, heart-breaking story. We all know that secrets lurk under holiday cheer, and poor Simon and his family have more than most. With the pall cast by Simon’s alcoholic father over the day, and over his life, Simon has more holiday horror than most. He’s making internal bets about how long his father will remain upright on Christmas Day, and it’s clear Simon’s whole life is colored deeply by being the child of an alcoholic. “Normal” is a myth, not his reality, therapist or no.

So of course he has some trouble knowing which set of signs to believe when he’s been given mixed signals. Hannes, with whom Simon’s been thrown together by a well-meaning mother figure, isn’t quite sure what to do with his unexpected attraction to Simon. He’s the king of mixed signals.

The story is set in Sweden, with many traditions we don’t share in the States or know by different names, but all are explained as much as they need to be for us to understand what’s going on and why, and of course, we understand long before Simon does that Hannes may say one thing and mean quite another.

The story is focused on Simon’s inner landscape and his growth, with a corresponding change in Hannes, who does an understated gay for you here. In a quiet way, he helps Simon make what is actually a pretty dramatic change. The story is one of characterization, handling some rather large topics in an understated way. Sweetly done. 4 marbles

The story is available as a standalone and also as part of a mixed pairing anthology called Boughs of Evergreen.

I'm back! With reinforcements

Happy Holidays!  Sorry for the long silence: between getting knocked for a loop with strep and then inadvertently changing my password (how to feel stupid in one easy step) and not remembering it, and then you know stuff happens.... The turkey hangover took a while to dissipate.

Anyway, back to the goodies! Feliz has done a guest review for us, The Boyfriend Mandate by River Jaymes, posting on Saturday, and we'll have Ofelia Grand's From All of Us to All of You on Friday, and then back to our regularly scheduled reviews, except maybe more of them since I do have a backlog. [[blush]]. For those who missed us, sorry to keep you waiting.

This also played hell with our blogoversary posts, but we'll be doing that right after the holidays! I have guest posts from some old friends and some new ones, and we'll have goodies and celebrations and you're all invited and hey, bring a friend!