Second Helpings by Charlie Cochrane

Title: Second Helpings
Author: Charlie Cochrane
Purchase at Riptide
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Amber Shah
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 38k words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf

Stuart Collins’s life might as well have ended a year ago when his partner died in a car crash. Even Stuart’s widowed father has found new love with an old friend, Isabel Franklin, so why can’t Stuart be bothered to try?

Then he gets a phone call from Isabel’s son, Paul, who wants to check out whether or not Mr. Collins is good enough for his mother. During dinner together, though, they end up checking out each other. Trouble is, Paul’s got a boyfriend—or maybe he doesn’t, since the boyfriend’s supposedly giving Paul the push by ignoring him. Or maybe Paul just wants to have his cake and eat it too.

Honesty with each other is the only way to move forward. But maybe honesty with themselves is what they really need.

~*~*~*~*

This story gives us a low key look at Stuart, who is grieving the loss of his husband, and Paul, whose long distance relationship has crumbled and how the two of them get past the pain enough to have a second chance.


Given the grieving aspects both characters have, expecting fireworks isn’t on, but the key here is so low that it’s nearly undetectable. Even when the men push each other’s pain buttons, which they manage to do several times, it’s still very muted. The resolutions are “I’m sorry” and done, which we do expect from adults. There just isn’t a lot going on to explain why Stuart and Paul have any particular attraction to each other besides proximity. As baby steps past the worst of the grieving, this works, as fodder for anything longer term than next week, not really.

Paul has a couple unlikeable elements going, unfortunately. If a parental figure he knows and likes has been deathly ill, isn’t the kind thing to do to call and inquire, express some joy that things are looking up? Or send a card or some flowers? Is nurturing a bit of doubt of the lie worth abandoning human consideration? Of course, then he’d know for sure if Ben was lying, although his BS detector should have pinned the meter. I wanted Paul to grow a pair, though when he finally did, we only hear about it afterwards, we aren’t witness to it. My irritation with him only grew when he pulled a couple of low blows on Stuart, that frankly came out of nowhere.

Both of them needed to get out of their stagnant phases and were able to move each other beyond that, but the real joy of love blooming was with Stuart’s father and Paul’s mother, who were exploring their own possibilities together. The story probably shouldn’t be read with the expectation of romance. 3.5 marbles

Angel in the Window by Charlie Cochrane

Title: Angel in the Window
Author: Charlie Cochrane
Cover Artist: Deana C. Jamroz
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: historical, Age of Sail
Length: 18k words

Alexander Porterfield may be one of the rising stars of Nelson’s navy, but his relationship with his first lieutenant, Tom Anderson, makes him vulnerable. To blackmail, to the exposure of their relationship—and to losing Tom, either in battle or to another ship.

When sudden danger strikes—from the English rather than the French—where should a man turn?

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There feels to be substantial back-story here, meaning that should Charlie Cochrane decide to write it, I will be jostling for first in line. According to her blog, this is her first foray into Age of Sail, and begins with an established couple.


The story has two major sections, the first at Alexander’s family home at holiday time, sometime after the Peace of Amiens, and the two men are very much a couple. They always have an eye out for someone who doesn’t wish them well and must be very discreet, because the Articles of War prescribe death for men in a relationship such as theirs, and the social suicide in the land-based society would be scarcely better. They have more freedom at the family estate than they do on board ship, but a country Christmas means houseguests, some with sharp eyes and secrets of their own.

Back aboard ship, Tom and Alexander have war to deal with and are yet more circumspect, which means that they dare not be together, nor exchange so much as a fond glance on deck. Even the hint of scandal is enough to cause an able sailing master, one who sailed with the legendary Captain Cochrane, to be lacking a berth. (Knowledgeable sources tell me Cochrane was the source for many exploits that ended up in Ramage, Hornblower, and Aubrey stories.)

I loved the language, which was slightly formal for modern day, but gave it a period feel. The men would occasionally tease each other in ship’s terms, but the playfulness kept the nautical language from being dry or overdone. The sex scenes have a similar restraint, which was kind of cute and kept from introducing coarser terms into the story that would have spoiled the effect. (See what kind of effect the story is having on me? The mores are catching!) The naval jargon is present just enough to place the story, but isn't overwhelming and doesn't require specialist's knowledge.

Tom and Alexander clearly love one another and are protective of each other, but problems that an able first officer should solve without troubling the captain might not be the same as what one lover should keep from another. The battle sequences are exciting and fraught with danger, and winning brings problems of its own.

The love story and the nautical story wrap together very nicely, and tie in with an external danger worse than the French. My one quibble is that the solution to this problem had something of a deus ex machina feel to it, although it certainly solved the issue.

I enjoyed this story, and would recommend it not only for aficionados of Hornblower and the like, but for anyone who’d appreciate an m/m historical that doesn’t bend the reality of then to allow a more present day liberty. Charlie Cochrane deserves her legions of fans, and this story is a great addition to her work. 4.5 marbles

Lashings of Sauce -- anthology

Title: Lashings of Sauce 

Author: Ed. Josephine Myles

Cover Artist: Alex Beecroft

Publisher: JMS Press  

Genre: Anthology

Length: 78k words

We Brits love our sauce, whether it's what we lash on our food, read on our seaside postcards, or write in our stories. Come and enjoy a buffet of tasty LGBTQ treats!

From marriages to reunions, via practical jokes and football matches, to weresloths and possibly the oddest Tarts and Vicars party in the world, join us as we celebrate the UK Meet in the best way we know: telling the story.

As a follow-up to the critically acclaimed British Flash and Tea and Crumpet anthologies, our talented writers bring you sixteen stories about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and genderqueer characters enjoying what Britain and mainland Europe have to offer, with their wonderfully diverse range of cultures and landscapes and some incredibly colourful and quirky people.

This anthology is a souvenir of the 2012 UK Meet, an occasion for GLBTQ supporters to get together in a relaxed setting to celebrate and chat about the fiction community they love. Funds from the sale of this anthology will go towards future UK Meets, to which all are welcome

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With seventeen authors, ranging from my most auto-buy of auto-buys to completely new to me, I read this anthology with a happy smile on my face. Covering a wide range of LGBT and without the constraints of **heat! Give us more heat!**, the UK MAT authors have provided a stunning display of talent.

A mini review of each story will make this post huge, so take it as given that I enjoyed each story, and the ones I mention here had something special, even considering the standard set by Jordan Castillo Price in the lead-off story, “Post Mortem”, where a humorless bureaucrat finds his sexy side under the attentions of a delivery man. I found this story to be one of the weaker offerings (weaker being relative in this collection) and worried a bit about what was to follow. A needless worry, because the very next piece, “Dressing Down” from Clare London, explores the allure of cross-dressing, something I haven’t read much of, and makes it both naughty and very appealing.

JL Merrow—how I love thee! Getting a couple of genres tucked in here, and some HEA’s in several directions, she made me laugh all the way through “Et Tu, Fishies?” Don’t talk to the weirdo upstairs, she says... Best thing Marty ever did. Charlie Cochrane also provided chuckles with a shifter story the likes of which I never did see, from an occasionally slow-moving and upside-down POV.

A few stories are *trans. One from Elyan Smith, a new to me author, is m to f, and both charming and painful. One small normal interaction with another person becomes important in a way most of us cannot begin to imagine. Zahra Owens takes a longer timeline for a complete transition from f to m, detailing a relationship that spans the POV character’s adult life. Difficult, but happy, and with some bittersweet moments that tell us humans have a ways to go yet.

BDSM is not one of my usual preferences, but Anne Brooke’s “School for Doms” was one hot number. Told from the POV of a sub teaching a class for newbie doms, it focused on the more psychological and sexy elements, and promised an HFN with some staying power. Rawr.

Not every story here has explicit sex in it, and the “sweet” ones would be forced and contrived if they had sex shoehorned in. The table of contents codes the stories for heat, but I found the stories with the emphasis on the love rather than the sex to be completely enjoyable, and missing nothing for closing the door in the reader’s face. Josephine Myles’ story “Dragon Dance”  was one such, and given the youth of the MCs, I was glad for it. (They were still of age, but barely.) The two young men have to find a way to be together that meshes with their Chinese but living in England families.

The few ff stories here are of the fade to black variety. One, Emily Moreton’s “Social Whirl,” let us watch the slow disintegration of a relationship, counterpointed with the spark of interest from another woman whom the narrator keeps tripping over at the various functions she attends.

In the way of anthologies, the stories vary, but here they vary within a small, high range. Not all of the authors are UK based, but all are skilled storytellers, and all have offered something not easily found elsewhere. If I haven’t mentioned a story, it’s for room and not for enjoyment, because this collection was a pleasure from start to finish. 4.5 marbles

Music in the Midst of Desolation by Charlie Cochrane

Music in the Midst of Desolation by Charlie Cochrane
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, M/M, GLBT
Length: Short Novel- 20 Minute Read/ 58 pages

Old soldiers never die -- they get whisked straight back to earth to take part in angelic "manoeuvres". Patrick Evans has no idea why he and Billy Byrne, who fought their wars a century apart, have been chosen for this particular "op", nor why it seems to involve fixing up the man Billy left behind with someone Billy's always hated. When Patrick realizes his old lover also has a connection to the case, will the temptation to refuse orders become too great?


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Proving that old soldiers still know the drill, and that young ones who die haven't finished with their duty, Charlie Cochrane puts a new twist on the notion of guardian angels. Music in the Midst of Desolation has another mission for fallen soldiers Patrick and Billy, one only they can do.

Allot more than twenty minutes for this story no matter what the cover suggests; there's plenty going on. Patrick and Billy get tapped for some afterlife recon by a heavenly intelligence agency whose duty is to make sure important choices are made to play out long term goals and plans, and that certain people can perform their destiny-critical parts in life. If it takes some gentle manipulation and exposure of truths (these guys are literally on the side of the angels; they will do the work honorably) that's what they do, even if the living people are dear to them and the choices are hard.

Patrick's had nearly a century of afterlife to let his emotions cool into angelic dispassion, unlike Billy, for whom everything is very recent and raw. He needs Patrick's cooler head to keep him on mission, because he's so very close to the living people he's trying to guide. The two work very well together; Billy's modern directness and Patrick's older-school reserve mix together with their sense of duty and get the job done.

There's some subtle humor, such as Billy trying to curb his soldier's language for angelic surroundings, and when he finds out what people really think of him. Angelic agents trying to use corporate-speak and military-speak bring a smile; you'd think they be naturals at flow charts. No sex—none of the relationships are at that point.

Their mission becomes more clear as the story progresses; Billy is truly the only operative who can ensure success, and for him there is a separate success, in learning to see past what he believes. This is more a story of healing than a romance, although one couple who truly deserves their chance at happiness looks like they will have it after a long drought. The triumphs are low key and mostly set up to happen rather than playing out on page. The birdsong in the trenches that lifted the men's spirits is playing here: Music in the Midst of Desolation has hope for all these dead soldiers. 4 marbles

Tea and Crumpet, edited by Josephine Myles

Tea and Crumpet ed. Josephine Myles
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Genre: Anthology, Contemporary, Erotica, Historical, GLBT
Length: 193 pages



Raise your rainbow umbrellas high and celebrate!

Enjoy this enchanting, entertaining and thought-provoking collection, a heartfelt expression of what it means to be queer in Britain, past and present. All these stories reflect the iconic sights and national character of the British Isles: a taste of our idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, but also an unashamed representation of the love, loyalty and laughter of our people.

Including a wide range of style and subject, this is the perfect way to sample different authors and to find both existing and new favourites. Follow the British way of life from historic villages to modern cities, from the countryside to the sea, through history and with a fantasy twist, in gardens, churches, campus and the familiar, much-loved local pub.

The stories cover universal themes of romance, desire, remembrance and reconciliation. The authors range from multi-published to up-and-coming, and they all share a passion for their characters, whether through great drama, erotic excitement, humour -- or a combination of all three!

Contributors include: Alex Beecroft, Jennie Caldwell, Stevie Carroll, Charlie Cochrane, Lucy Felthouse, Elin Gregory, Mara Ismine, Clare London, Anna Marie May, JL Merrow, Josephine Myles, Zahra Owens, Jay Rookwood, Chris Smith, Stevie Woods, Lisa Worrall, and Serena Yates. Edited by: UK MAT (UK Meet Acquisitions Team).

This anthology is a souvenir of the 2011 UK Meet, an occasion for GLBTQ supporters to get together in a relaxed setting to celebrate and chat about the fiction community they love. Funds from the sale of this anthology will go towards future UK Meets, to which all are welcome.
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Oh, my, this is what happens when the constraints of American publishers, American-speak, and standard romance conventions are released. Tea and Crumpet is a charming collection of short stories from British authors in all their native glory.

More than half of the authors here are new to me, with a wide variety of style and voice. There are eighteen stories that span most of the social spectrum, though if I wasn't quite sure what a "chav" is, I could glean a lot from context. And from Google – who wouldn't want to know more about something called "Insanely Bad Elf"*? Most are m/m, a few f/f – and while the f/f stories did not stand out as distinctly in voice, the diversity was welcome.

With this many stories, I'm not going to go into each in detail or we'll be here for 100 pages, so I'll mention a few of the standouts, though please understand, the entire collection is worth the read, particularly if you yearn for a gay story that doesn't adhere completely to the HEA/HFN model.

JL Merrow provides another one of her humorous shorts with Good Breeding. Giles finds himself confronting all his snobbery when he discovers that his own antecedents aren't as posh as he could wish when he tracks down his birth mother. Between his even snobbier boyfriend Hugh and his level-headed roommate Oz, Giles gets an attitude adjustment and a lesson in priorities. Funny, with a little sting.

The Utterly True History of Guy Alien and the Rise and Fall of His Band, X-Wing is one of the non-standard-romance stories, though Stevie Carroll reveals the relationships and the caring. Part is a magazine exposé, part the reactions of the readers, it lets the identities of the readers unveil slowly, and by the end, you'll be utterly content with the lovers.

A follow-up to another story I now feel compelled to track down, We’ll Always Have Brighton #2 from Zahra Owens stands alone, both as narrative and in voice. Told from "I" to "you", you being the other member of the couple, this is a structure I've seen only once before. It works well in this tale of recovery from a terrible incident. Names are neither given nor needed; the whole universe is this couple and a place that means a great deal to them.

Not to slight any of the other fine authors who have contributed to this anthology, but after these three I'm going to suggest that you get the collection and read for yourself. 4.5 marbles




*Insanely Bad Elf is an imperial red ale with an ethanol content designed to remove paint.  But I will not tell you how it fits into the story.

Lessons in Love (Cambridge Fellows #1) by Charlie Cochrane

St. Bride’s College, Cambridge, England, 1905.

When Jonty Stewart takes up a teaching post at the college where he studied, the handsome and outgoing young man acts as a catalyst for change within the archaic institution. He also has a catalytic effect on Orlando Coppersmith.

Orlando is a brilliant, introverted mathematician with very little experience of life outside the college walls. He strikes up an alliance with the outgoing Jonty, and soon finds himself having feelings he’s never experienced before. Before long their friendship blossoms into more than either man had hoped and they enter into a clandestine relationship.

Their romance is complicated when a series of murders is discovered within St. Bride’s. All of the victims have one thing in common, a penchant for men. While acting as the eyes and ears for the police, a mixture of logic and luck leads them to a confrontation with the murderer—can they survive it?
****************************************************

Repressed mathematics lecturer Orlando Coppersmith doesn't know what force of nature took his seat by accident in the Senior Common Room, but Jonty Stewart is the sunlight and rain that will nourish his world and crack his façade. Orlando is the brilliant and polite example of Edwardian ideals, never straying into physical impropriety, and entirely unaware of such scandalous things as men lying together. Jonty knows more, including the secret underbelly of single-sex societies; Orlando's innocence is something he both treasures and hopes to channel into a pure love that can also be physical.

The unfolding of their love is very much complicated with a string of murders within the college, the work of someone with a need for vengeance that Jonty and Orlando can understand once it's exposed. In best Gaudy Night style, (and thank goodness for having read that or this American would have been a bit lost in the environment of St. Bride's) Jonty and Orlando assist the police and find the murderer, but not before three bodies need to be returned to grieving families.

Orlando blooms under Jonty's attentions, feeling his way into love and sex, though he's shocked by the raunchy books found in the first murder victim's possessions, and needs time to reconcile these two aspects of sexuality. Jonty gives him time and distance as needed, and once in a while, a little shove in the right direction. Their relationship is sweet, tender, and I want to pour them a nice glass of port and lock the bedroom door behind them.

The murder mystery part of this novel worked for a time when gentlemen sleuths could work hand in hand with the police and forensics was a hopeful idea and not a science. I'm not quite convinced the clues were there and the mystery fair -- we don't really get to see much of the suspects. The reasons for the murders and the resolution were certainly tragic.

I very much enjoyed this excursion into a more formal time, when there were things that gentlemen just did not do, or didn't get caught doing, where the exchange of names was considered nearly as intimate as exchanging bodily fluids. The slow pace of the relationship was lovely, being so emotionally involved, with the sharing of secrets and sorrows.

I picked this up as a free read on Amazon, and what a great thing -- there are more Orlando and Jonty stories! Now I have to read them all, Ms Author, so the free read did exactly what you hoped to draw me into this world.  4.5 marbles




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