Zipper Fall by Kate Pavelle

Title: Zipper Fall
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Dreamspinner
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Genre: contemporary, mystery
Length: 350 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print


Wyatt Gaudens, an advertising executive and adrenaline junkie, has fine-tuned the art of breaking and entering into apartments, misusing his considerable rock climbing skills. Once inside, he steals a pretty, shiny thing or two. When his friend Reyna complains that her jerk of a boss makes her workplace a living hell, he breaks into her boss's home to get even. More than any other pretty thing, what really catches his eye the most is her boss, Jack.

Working hard to overcome his own lingering problems, investment specialist Jack Azzuri focuses on his second chance at making his business grow. But grief for his sister, Celia, recently killed in a suspicious climbing accident, sabotages his attempt to start over. When he meets Wyatt, he's strongly attracted even though Wyatt is the last person he should associate with. With Jack's explosive temper and Wyatt's adrenaline addiction, the path to a stable relationship will be a tough climb. They might succeed if they can sort out what really matters, as well as learn to take the good with the bad. Wyatt hopes to speed their progress by solving the mystery that’s weighing Jack down: how did Celia really die?

Review:

I have seldom been as perplexed by a book as I am with this one. Maybe I should put it on the “Guilty Pleasure” shelf, because while it had some flaws that normally send me frothing at the mouth, I ended up enjoying it a great deal.


What’s to like? The MCs, for starts. Wyatt Gaudens has both a devil-may-care attitude and a sense of honor, both tested out every time he chooses to break into someone’s home. While his overarching motivation for slipping some locks and taking a little this and that didn’t entirely make sense, it’s still good fun. The vicarious heart-pounding from following along while casing the joint, getting in, and even going too often to the well was definitely a high point. He reacts to Jack very viscerally, and has to examine his own motivations quite often. He’s fun. Occasionally not too bright, but I enjoyed his first person narration.

Jack is a force of nature, and we don’t spend any time in his head, for which I am actually grateful. He’s got some seething long term anger that I don’t want to cuddle mind to mind with, but he’s complex and balances enlightened self interest with an unique moral code that occasionally goes crosswise standard behavior. There’s explosive chemistry between them, which, oddly for me, I found engrossing enough that the external plot came as something of a shock when it reappeared. The author didn't mistake hawtsex for relationship; she made them work for it.

This story kept me off balance in a way that meant I couldn’t completely submerge in the tale. Bits and pieces of backstory got thrown in that didn’t seem to have any real connection to the story at hand, and didn’t always make sense. Motivations seemed like afterthoughts, tacked on in discrete chunks. Simmering issues got turned to a high boil and then shoved back in the fridge. New characters got dragged out of the woodwork in such a way that I had to scroll back and see if they’d swung by before, because the implications seemed to be that I should know who they are and why they belong in there. Friends of friends got dragged through by name only for no discernible reason. This all hits my converted fanfic button, a little checking, and yeah.

A couple of plot points seemed awfully familiar, but the source turned out to be another of this author’s own stories. A few were natural consequences of a particular action, but one was kind of eye-rolly both times.

Well. Like I said, I still ended up enjoying it.

Because anyone who references Bernie Rhodenbarr correctly gets two points.

The external plot, finding Celia’s murderer, had a few clues scattered here and there through the story, but didn’t actually come to the forefront until the last third of the book, and then with the air of it being something on the to do list, like getting the dry cleaning. The method was unique and referenced a lot of what went before. The howdunit, whydunit, and whodunit looked straightforward but had some good twists. I actually would have been perfectly content with the story had it ended at the 60% mark.

Basically, the problem here is of pacing, and of origins where the reader is assumed to have a basic grounding in who’s who and why they do what they do. This story would probably work marvelously in its original fandom, but as a work de novo the story isn’t entirely cohesive. I think this author can write, but I would really prefer to read something from her that owes nothing to any work but her own.

But the MCs are amazingly hot together, even if Wyatt occasionally can’t seem to find his butt with both hands. Jack clearly knows where it is. 3.5 marbles

Lighting the Way Home by EM Lynley and Shira Anthony

Title: Lighting the Way Home
Author: E.M. Lynley and Shira Anthony
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publisher Buy Link: Lighting the Way Home

Genre: Contemporary
Length: 206 pages


World-class chef Joshua Golden is homesick for Paris before he even arrives in New York, but he’ll endure it—his parents need him to help run the family restaurant while his mother recovers from surgery. Running a place so far beneath his talents is bad enough, but bad turns to worse when Josh discovers his former best friend and lover, Micah Solomon, is living at his parents’ house with his ten-year-old son, Ethan.

For ten years, Josh has done his best to forget how Micah shattered his heart into tiny pieces. Now Micah’s back, fresh out of prison, and helping out at the restaurant. Micah may not be the kind of sous chef Josh is used to, but he is more helpful and supportive than any of the other employees. But Josh finds it hard to keep his distance when, time after time, Micah proves himself a better man than Josh thought. Reluctantly, Josh realizes there is more to Micah than his lousy life choices… but that doesn’t mean Josh is ready to forgive him.

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This was a peek into a fully realized society for me—part of our American life but unique and with deep flavor. It’s not my background, but I wasn’t lost, and I was definitely intrigued. This is life in a New York Jewish community that’s accessible for those of us who aren’t of that background. The community was palpable but not overwhelming; Josh and Micah fit in but not in any predictable pattern.


There’s pain and longing that go way back, mixed with huge dollops of family expectation and broken hopes. And out of this potent mix, the authors bring the two protagonists through the mess into a place where they might be happy at last. Micah  couldn't possibly have hurt Josh so badly had Josh not loved Micah so deeply, and the authors make us watch how tattered love can become whole again.

Individually, each author has written books that I have sunk into and enjoyed, and together EM Lynley and Shira Anthony have created something seamless and vivid. However these two manage their collaboration, it works. The style is smooth and readable, and carries the story forward.

Josh grew up in the restaurant business, but has left kosher food and all it implies far, far behind. French food, luscious enough to tempt chefs with Michelin stars, is worlds away from the homey Eastern European kosher cooking he grew up on, and it’s his life now. An ocean between him and Micah, who broke his heart a hundred times over, is just barely enough. Now Josh is home to mind the store a while for his ailing parents. And Micah seems to have taken his place as dutiful son.

Watching Josh go from curled up in an emotional fetal position to open and loving is the great character arc of this book—he’s arranged his life to avoid dealing with pain that’s entirely in his face now. From his parents to his former lover, to the life he has and the life that he could have, Josh has to reevaluate everything. His mother and father have gone frail, Micah has a ten year old son, an ex-wife, and a prison record, and Josh is frothing at the mouth to get back to a kitchen that serves not-kosher food. It’s all as far from what he once had and hoped for as he can get. All driven by pain.

Micah doesn’t get any POV scenes, but that’s fine because he is unrolled in small doses as Josh can cope with him. Josh sees details as he can, and Micah is who he is, but slowly unveiled in all his complexity. Micah’s hurt everyone he loves, and is working through his amends. He’s a wonderful character, and in ways he’s deeper than Josh is, because he’s had to come to an ultimate understanding of who he is and what drives him. Fatherhood and the responsibility for another person adds to that. Ethan, his son, doesn’t steal any scenes or spout pages of adorable regurgitated wisdom; he’s just a ten year old who loves his father, wants to play basketball with his buddies, and accepts that his home is where his father is, not a house or apartment. He’s so normal I wanted to feed him pizza and check his homework.

There are a few plot issues that one can see coming, mostly because it has to work out that way else one character or another would be a selfish sub-human (It’s a roller coaster ride, sometimes I wondered—and that’s a good thing!), but the “how it works out” doesn’t disappoint in any way. Other issues make perfect sense after you read the passages and think a little, which adds a delightful complexity to the story. One or two instances I definitely didn’t see coming but given one of the authors’ legal background, I am prepared to believe entirely once it’s explained.

A few plot points are left open ended rather than extend this timeline as far out as total resolution would need. I anticipate a follow-up story more than wish every loose end had been tied here. There’s hope, and for where it’s needed, it’s enough. The rest, we’re left happy.

I enjoyed this story from top to bottom, and I can only imagine how someone more steeped in Jewish culture will see plot points in greater nuance than I can. There are the familiar trappings of Chanukah, but the latkes and candles aren't the plot here: they are the sense of family and continuity.  Beshert, judging from dreamy looks and secret smiles from those I asked who ought to know, has to mean more than “meant to be”, but for Joshua and Micah, it’s good. It’s a foundation for a lifetime.  4.5 stars.

Gay as Mardi Gras by Lily Velden

Title: Gay As Mardi Gras
Author: Lily Velden
Cover Artist: Lily Velden
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 77 pages

After the demise of his relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Janey, Jesse needs to get away. His nan has just the thing: a month-long cruise around Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. It seems perfect—until Jesse realizes what kind of cruise it is.

A gay cruise.

Since Jesse’s roommate, Daniel, is recovering from a broken heart, the two decide to buddy up. They hit it off, and with Daniel now Jesse's partner in crime, they explore the boat and participate in all the fun activities on offer—with some, ah, interesting results for straight boy Jesse.

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This story was off to a rocky start—some things do not cross multigenerational barriers well. I was aghast at the beginning, where ultra-accepting Nan not only thinks about the MC’s sex life, she tells him what it is, and meddles in it. This woman is a combination of loving grandmother and Intrusive Female Best Friend with Inappropriate Curiosity. She’d probably be fun if I could get past that shrill NONONONONO! in my mind for the opening 10% of the story where she’s front and center. But I can’t. Others might.


Leaving this chimera behind, we follow MC Jesse on board ship, where he puts two and two together about its gay-centricity, and is relieved to discover that his ship-assigned cabin mate Daniel is a nice guy with troubles of his own, who needs a friend to cover his back. What unfolds is their discovery of one another and Jesse’s reluctant acceptance that he is indeed gay.

The unfolding of this is slow—Daniel doesn’t push, and Jesse needs that whole month to reevaluate. It’s done sweetly and charmingly. Friendship develops first, then a relationship that includes sex. In places it’s a little cloying—their tastes in books, music, and careers have enormous overlap and their disagreements are so minor as to merit less than a paragraph. Daniel is a bit of a cipher, more a mirror to Jesse than a character in his own right. His main role is to reassure Jesse that what he wants is okay; at no time does he particularly assert his desires, even regarding non-sexual issues. All conflict is within Jesse’s head.

The story is told in first person, present tense, which suits Jesse’s “all about the now” mentality, though the mentality may reflect use of the present tense rather than being a deliberate choice. In moments of passion, there are long strings of single-sentence paragraphs, a conceit which could have been dialed back a bit.

Jesse’s reminiscences about his former long term girlfriend appear here and there to contrast her to Daniel, and to the author’s credit, Jesse recalls her fondly, if without passion. The cruise, a month long and an exciting adventure, one would think, is seen mostly as endless food and costume parties. It could have been anywhere on the seven seas for all the tropical anything we’re shown. The ship is scarcely more vivid: we don’t even know if they have a cabin with a porthole or not.

Daniel’s essential flatness made me question if this was converted fanfic; by the author’s admission it is, and in a fandom whose canon I don’t care for. Jesse is more completely drawn, ie I could identify the base canon character. When the author can offer two original MCs alive on the page, I will be happy to read more of her work.

The story was worth reading to follow Jesse’s self-discovery, not only regarding his gayness, but regarding his own stereotyped ideas and misconceptions, though it would be well boosted by a brighter spotlight on other elements of the story. The scenes where most development takes place involve sex. One sex scene contained a humorous oops, but morphed into an inappropriately zipless fuck.

If you don’t expect more than the turmoil inside Jesse’s head, it’s a cute read. 3.25 marbles

Cover Up by K.C. Burn

Title: Cover Up
Author: K.C. Burn
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: contemporary, police
Length: 236 pages


Detective Ivan Bekker has hit rock bottom. Not only is he recovering from a bad breakup with a cheating boyfriend, he’s also involved in a drug bust gone bad. Ivan had to kill a man, and his friend was shot and is now fighting for his life. Though Ivan is under investigation for his part in the shooting, his boss sends him on an off-the-books undercover operation to close the case. The timing is critical—this could be their chance to plug a leak in the department.

Off-balance and without backup, Ivan finds himself playing a recent divorcé and becoming Parker Wakefield’s roommate. He finds it hard to believe that sweet Parker could possibly be a criminal, much less have ties to a Russian mafia drug-trafficking operation, and Ivan lets down his guard. His affection is unprofessional, but Parker is irresistible.

When Ivan comes across clear evidence of Parker’s criminal involvement, he has to choose: protect their relationship, regardless of the consequences, or save his career and arrest the man he loves.
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I turfed this book at the 15% mark, and wasn’t planning to come back to it. Objecting to the absolute lunacy of the setup on Ivan’s behalf, I didn’t think I could bring myself to read an entire novel that worked with that sort of logic. Curiosity got the better of me, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.


Starting from an incident towards the end of Cop Out, a book where Ivan was a minor character, we get to follow him into an undercover operation that makes no sense whatsoever. His superior doesn’t even let him clean another man’s blood from his face before sending him into a totally inappropriate operation, using the sort of rationale that barely makes sense even to a traumatized officer. At this point I was snarling and muttering about “Where’s Internal Affairs when you need them?”

So, when Ivan goes to be Parker’s roommate without so much as an interview because someone else picked him for the housemate, it was more eye-rolly—the question of why a budding Mafia man needs a roommate does occur to Ivan, but why anyone bright enough to pound sand wouldn’t even meet first before inviting a stranger into his home does not. Then, their first interaction has Ivan treating Parker like a child, and that’s where I put the book down.

I found Parker to be an infuriating character, partly because he does act so childlike that it was squicky that Ivan, or anyone, be thinking of him sexually. Much was made of the May/December issue by other characters, mostly by trying to insult Ivan for his extreme age of thirty four, but since Parker was only intermittently coming across as twenty two instead of thirteen, it was not Ivan who was the problem.

This was made even more infuriating because Parker was portrayed as sheltered, socially awkward, and frankly clueless because he’d been a caretaker for his dying mother and her financial affairs. That’s a scenario that grows you up fast, IMHO, but not here. His pudgy adolescent phase was used to justify his social backwardness even more, and as excuses for why he put up with the odious Neil, his alleged best friend. Parker meekly puts up with any shit Neil hands out, which only encourages him to take further advantage.

The few instances where Parker shows any strength of character seem peripheral to the story—while it’s admirable that he volunteers in a trauma center, it’s also irrelevant except to allow him a flash of insight later, which frankly wasn’t a great leap. Otherwise he’s either letting people push him around, beating himself up for perceived flaws, or mooning over Ivan, who blows hot and cold as he alternately remembers and forgets that involvement with a suspect is a bad idea. Aside from Parker’s extreme good looks, which he is entirely unaware of, (really, I can’t make this stuff up) there isn’t much besides being a warm body to explain Ivan’s attraction to him. His big moment of maturity comes late and doesn’t last:

...but it might explain why Ivan was so laid back. Unless, of course, that hadn’t been real either. He hated, absolutely hated, not knowing which bits of Ivan were the truth, or if any of them were.

He flings this insight to the wind to make the HEA work.

Since Ivan is doing something he knows to be bad police work, he gets to angst too. Having an instance of his angst-driven bad behavior be pivotal to solving the crime was a nice touch.

Between the irritations from an immature character, a poorly designed mission, shoddy investigation, and an unmysterious mystery, the first two thirds of the story were an exercise in frustration. That last third had some really good moments, and seeing Kurt and Davy from Cop Out was nice—Kurt at least was still capable of functioning as a cop. Watching Ivan unravel during this section was one of the better sequences. The ending scene had some LOL lines in addition to Parker again demonstrating that he hasn't thought things through.

The resolution to the investigation made partial sense of the beginning, but had I not returned to the story after swearing off, I would never have known that. And given what else lurked in there, I’m not happier for the knowing. 2.5 marbles

Aria by Shira Anthony

Title: Aria (a Blue Notes novel)
Author: Shira Anthony
Cover Artist: Catt Ford
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 236 pages



Five years after a prestigious scholarship jumpstarted his opera career, Aiden Lind has it all: fame, choice roles, and Lord Cameron Sherrington to share his life with. Maintaining his façade takes effort, but under his poised, sophisticated mask, Aiden is still the insecure kid from rural Mississippi. Then he walks in on Cam with another man, and the illusion of perfection shatters.

Philadelphia attorney Sam Ryan never moved on after his partner died, though he tried. Instead of dating, he keeps himself busy with work—but when he unexpectedly runs into ex-lover Aiden while on a rare vacation in Paris, he’s inspired to give their love a second chance. First, though, he’ll have to get Aiden to forgive him. Because when Sam was still grieving five years ago, he broke Aiden’s heart.

When rekindled lust blossoms into a true romance, it seems like the start of something wonderful. But Aiden’s career has him on the road much of the time, and the physical distance between him and Sam starts translating into an emotional disconnect. If Aiden and Sam can’t learn to communicate, their separation may prove more than their love can bear.

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To paraphrase Chekhov: If the gun has been presented in Act 1, it must be fired by Act III. Aria has an uncomfortable number of undischarged firearms lying about.


The author went to considerable effort to create the backdrop of professional opera and law, and set up a confluence that never materialized. Over and over I waited for a promised payoff, and over and over I was left wanting. If this was a deliberate attempt to avoid the obvious, then why go to all the effort of the set-up?

The set-up is delicious—Sam the employment law attorney is having a lot of trouble continuing with his life after losing his partner of several years. Nick, the deceased lover, is still very much with him, and a tentative attempt at dating a year after his death is only enough to bring Sam together with Aiden for a few heady weeks before opportunities in his world of professional opera take him away.

Five years later, they have the chance to pick up again and find out if they could be good together.

Both men have had their lives devastated by loss—Aiden’s is more recent and accompanied by betrayal. The first third of the book sets all this up, and lets our hearts break with Aiden’s when he finds his aristocratic lover doing the unforgivable, after having shattered with Sam and his grief. I snuffled a little and turned the pages anxiously.

When the men do reconnect, it’s tenuous—Aiden travels a lot from gig to gig, and Sam has a secure life back in Philadelphia, and making these two things jibe isn’t easy. Aiden doesn’t quite get over the feeling of being a guest in what should be his home, nor does Sam relax enough to let Aiden feel comfortable. It’s understandable in a way—beginnings are delicate, but the things, major and minor, that they don’t talk about are, well, just about everything. “It’s okay” says Sam, or “I don’t mind” says Aiden, but it’s not and he does, and what could have stayed small and been healed grows huge and festering until it threatens to tear the men apart.

Even something as small and obvious as calling to wish Aiden well before a performance seldom occurs to Sam, who surely should be intelligent enough to set a clock to London or Vienna time. A “brace yourself” phone call from Aiden to Sam regarding the paparrazzi’s intense interest in him, plus an explanation from the source, shouldn’t be out of Aiden’s ability. For the second third of the story, I wanted to deliver frequent blows with the cluebat. These guys think but they don’t act. They lie to each other and find it easy to ignore the lie, as Sam muses at one point, and it won’t be until they are brutally honest with one another that they truly have a chance.

The text is sprinkled with promises of events to come that never materialize, not least of which is an intersection between Aiden and Sam’s careers. This is foreshadowed early on, and while the difficulties duly arise, the troubles are resolved via a third party, not by one of the MC’s skills. This has the effect of flattening out an already understated and uncommunicative relationship, and wastes a lot of potential. Aiden and Sam could have been any couple where one is rooted and the other nomadic, a teacher and a long haul trucker, for instance, though the trucker might have borrowed his pal’s bass boat instead of an ocean-going yacht. We barely see Sam’s legal career, or have the chance to follow Aiden on stage and feel his passion for the music, which would have been a good counterpoint to the drippy greasepaint we did see. Nor do we sit with Sam in the concert hall to hang on Aiden’s every golden note. Where one character needed the other’s expertise, it doesn’t happen—they barely discuss what’s wrong.

What we do have, leaving aside the unused possibilities, is a competently told story of learning to love again and the difficulties of an intermittently long distance relationship. Nick hangs over the couple like smoke, creating tension, and the tabloids’ interest in Aiden provides horrible jolts for both men. We also get some lovely appearances of characters from the first two Blue Notes novels. It was nice to see Jason and Jules happy.

I still enjoyed the book, even while seeing how a more thorough use of the various elements could have lifted this story from good to great. 4 marbles

The Wish by Eden Winters

Title: The Wish
Author: Eden Winters
Cover Artist: Christine Griffin
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 210 pages
Rating:5



At his death, Byron Sinclair left behind more than just his much older partner Alfred Anderson. The couple helped raise their respective nephews, and while Paul Sinclair and Alex Martin are now adults, they still have some growing up to do, particularly when it comes to getting along with each other.

If they refuse to be in the house at the same time, how can Alex be so sure Paul is an opportunistic suck-up with the morals of an alley cat? Paul isn’t impressed with aloof and arrogant playboy Alex, either. Both swear they know all they need to about the other—and about themselves.

Byron’s dying wish is for Alfred to help Paul and Alex see how perfect they are for each other. But when the boys stubbornly refuse to acknowledge what's right in front of them, Byron must get creative—though it’ll be difficult without hands, or a voice, or a body….

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Honest to goodness, I don’t know how Eden Winters does it—she can start a novel in a funeral home, and still produce not one love story but two, plus chuckles, groans, gasps, and tears of the happy sort as well as the sad. By the end of this story I was well and truly run through my emotions.


Byron and Alfred are one love story, though we see Byron as a young and vibrant lover only in the memories of those he left behind. Alfred, his much older life partner, always expected to be the one to go first, as befits a man nearly a generation older. In the thoughts of their nephews Paul and Alex, we see both Byron and Alfred as trailblazers for gay love and acceptance, and as men thwarted in their desire for family by law, the times, and conventions. Still, they manage to be huge influences in the lives of their nephews, though not in the same way for both youths.

Byron is an opinionated man—a little drawback like being dead and incorporeal isn’t going to keep him from achieving a last deed before leaving—such a busy little busybody he is! A few of his wispy little nudges have the possibility of going horribly awry, but that just might get his two hard-headed nephews to talk, something they’re decades overdue for.

Paul and Alex are two of the most stubborn men to walk the planet—Paul is bent on independence to a degree that almost requires a slap and a lesson in graciousness, while Alex can hold a notion so tightly it dies of strangulation before he can reassess it. These two have to knock heads over and over before they can come to any appreciation of each other, but ghostly Uncle Byron has ways of shaking them up that provide some giggles along the way. When they do release their assumptions, they are sweet, hot, and more startling to one another than any manifestation of ectoplasm could be.

We get to look at the cogs turning in Alex’s head and know the tragedies that can accompany a privileged upbringing. He’s the one who changes the most in his understanding of love, and with his newfound appreciation of Paul, he can be a bastion of strength when it’s needed. His numerous wrong assumptions are the grist for the comedy, although Paul has his share of preconceived notions to give up. Paul’s almost a little too goody-goody, until he slangs back as good as he gets.

The style is sometimes bouncy and sometimes serious—it’s a strength of the writing that some very serious notions permeate the work but don’t bog it down. Aging, ill health, death, and surviving loss all play a role, but there’s more hope than gloom, and love absolutely triumphs over everything else. For a wonderful emotional journey, a reader couldn’t wish for better than this. 5 Marbles


Also available at Amazon,  Barnes and Noble, and All Romance eBooks.

Review originally posted at Reading Reality.

Compulsion by Clare London

Title: Compulsion
Author: Clare London
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 250 pages

The past always catches up with you. Max Newman should know—he’s been running from his ever since he dropped out of Uni and made a disastrous move to the seedier side of London. Now he’s returned to Brighton to lick his wounds. Though Max believes the club scene is better left behind him, one night he lets his friends drag him out dancing. And suddenly the simple life he’s tried to lead gets complicated.

At Compulsion, the Medina Group’s newest hotspot, Max meets Seve Nunez, a member of the Medina management and a man used to taking what he wants. The sexual chemistry between Max and Seve immediately leads to an intimate encounter in the backyard of the club—just the kind of dangerous behavior Max tried to leave behind. Despite that, he can't help but crave more, and Seve seems just as eager.

But Max soon suspects that Seve may not be the scrupulous businessman he claims. Max has seen the Medina Group at work before, and what he saw got a good friend killed. He's not sure what future he has with Seve, but he'll have to decide whether to trust in Seve’s innocence or keep running. The wrong choice could land them both in mortal danger.

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If ever two men can’t keep their hands off each other, it’s Max and Seve. From their first meeting in the nightclub where Max had to be dragged in, to the climactic scene where everything changes, these guys are all about the sex. They’ve got chemistry, but do they have a future?


They're not so much about the talking, though, which makes it easier to believe that their relationship is only physical, and when Max, our sole POV character, starts to wonder if he has more complicated feelings for Seve, he rightly considers that his mind has been clouded by the edgy sex. For a long time, it seems to be that heady feeling of sex spiced with the thrill of being caught or the bliss of surrender. These two men might well be a drug for each other—the compulsion to be together runs both ways.

Max’s backstory comes out in little intervals between the sex scenes (the book is heavily front loaded with some hawt stuff), making Seve (short for Severino, it’s not a typo) one of the worst possible choices of partner. Maybe. It’s that maybe that keeps Max from running. The baggage Max bought back from London doesn’t make him such a great choice for Seve either, but Mac’s growth in understanding his role in his previously sordid choices let us hope that maybe this will all work out. His is a story of redemption, and one thing that made me like him better toward the end was that he knew the cost of his redemption might include Seve, and he was ready to pay it. His need for redemption was that great, and his reasons are doled out through the story, not plopped on the reader.

Max has a wonderful set of friends running through the story who care deeply for him, little though he feels he deserves it, and each of them is a small bright presence throughout the book. I was especially fond of Louis.

The back half of the book explodes with action, where the front was heavy on the sex, and sex actually plays a huge role in the action, though in a very different way. Unfortunately, the big relationship talk happened in this section, so while Max and Seve were hashing out some important issues, I was mentally screaming Not now! Take care of the problem in the kitchen first!

The emphasis is heavily on the men and their evolving relationship, told in Clare London’s trademark gritty prose, which reads very viscerally. The external plot wraps in one swift chapter with some really handwavy elements, which may not stand out for other readers as much as it does for me. Seve and Max have something more than sexual attraction, and although they and the readers have to go through a lot to get there, it’s a great place to end up. 4 marbles

Brand New Flavor by EM Lynley

Title: Brand New Flavor
Author: EM Lynley
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: contemporary
Length: 144 pages, novella
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

When artisan ice cream maker Jay Brown first meets food writer Cameron Clay at a charity tasting event, they get along like strawberries and chocolate sauce. Jay's unique flavors thrill more than Cameron's jaded palate, but after a delicious encounter in Jay’s delivery truck, where extra-creamy frozen treats are not the only delights sampled, Cameron loses Jay’s contact info—and any hope of a real date.

Desperate, Cameron convinces his editor to host an artisanal ice cream contest in hopes of drawing out the elusive genius. But more complications threaten to intervene. Will Jay even enter the contest? Or will the chance of a happily ever after melt away?

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First off, this story made me crave some really good ice cream! EM Lynley describes the tactile sensations and the flavors in such a way that it was an absolute need to get a bowl of frozen confection, mostly because first choice (of hot guys) wasn't in grabbing range.


Cameron the food critic stumbles on the hottest, or coolest, new sensation of Jay’s novel flavors at a tasting, and also stumbles on the interesting sensation of not being recognized. Most of the folks in the food scene know who he is and fear his opinions, but Jay wants to get down and dirty in the delivery van, not court Cameron’s judgment on his wares—that Cameron even had a widely respected opinion came as a surprise. These hot gay guys consider that a good blowjob is like a firm handshake—do that first and then get to know each other.

If they could be in the same place at the same time, that would work better—and the whole world is conspiring to keep them apart. Every single secondary character has an agenda to stick between them, and only Jay’s good-hearted but manipulative staff oppose them. Cameron and Jay are both stubborn and intrigued, but a few of Jay’s quirks make it even harder for them to get together.

A couple of Jay’s idiosyncrasies seemed a bit over the top—why have business cards in your pocket if you won’t even give your phone number to a regular customer? But there are some explanations for even that, and it’s all good frustrating fun and treats for the reader. With every new setback creating a gasp and every fresh revelation bringing an agreeing nod, this story romps through the difficulties created for and by two obstinate men who really ought to have a chance at each other in fresh, crisp sheets.

The secondary characters, from Cameron’s ex who wants him back to Jay’s former partner and lover, plus other friends and foes with strong opinions, all stir the pot here, and are vividly drawn. One female character nearly went over the top, but ended with some nuance. Jay’s employees are darlings, well meaning if occasionally off based, and more help than hindrance, even if Jay would like to whack them with a ladle at one point. Jay’s so stubborn he’s probably the one who needs the thump upside the head—he creates huge vats of will he/won’t he tension.

I enjoyed this story greatly, and now someone better scoop me a big bowl of Jay's chocolaty lusciousness! 4.5 marbles

Cupid Knows Best by S.A. Garcia

Title: Cupid Knows Best
Author: S.A. Garcia
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 284 pages
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

When it comes to his professional life, photographer Carl Conrad is at the top of his game. He molds impressionable minds at the university by day and jets off to Paris for gallery showings on long weekends. Unfortunately, he pays for it with his disastrous personal life: Carl kicked his boyfriend to the curb after one too many punches, so now it’s just him and his hamsters, one of which he suspects may be a space alien.

Then Cupid takes pity on Carl and hits him where it hurts. It takes Carl all of three seconds to fall head over heels in lust with set design student Marcelino Moya, despite the man’s questionable—okay, deplorable—fashion sense. Convincing Marcelino to give him a chance is the hard part, but Carl is up for the challenge, pun definitely intended.

Marcelino plays hard to get, but he isn’t immune to Carl’s charms. Carl talks him around to dinner, dating, and eventually moving in. There’s just one tiny word standing between Carl and perfect happiness. Why won’t Marcelino say it?

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

It is marginally possible that I did not approach this novel with the right mind-set. I am willing to be beguiled with language and scenarios that dance from witticism to feyness, but when it comes on top of the MC, Carl, discussing how traumatized he is by hearing from his abusive ex lover, I will admit to having some trouble shifting gears. It seems that the bruises haven’t quite faded from the most recent incident, but this is left vague enough that friends are urging Carl to move on. Which he does, about seven and a half minutes after the words are out of the friend’s mouth. With a student.

Carl is the only POV character—an extremely talented artist, willing to take refuge in pot smoke and too much wine rather than treat anything seriously, and taking a while to acknowledge that he might have to learn from his mistakes. What touches his surface stays on his surface, and takes a long time to penetrate to the depths where it might do some good. Describing himself as “an old hippie” is part and parcel of his over the top persona, much more flamboyant than most m/m romance characters. At thirty-six he feels old and decrepit, whining about the aches and pains of yoga and wild sex. Perhaps in his universe he is old and decrepit—Carl and his friends trade vicious jabs about aging and creeping unattractiveness, and how disadvantaged a geezer of 36 is with a lover of 24.

Marcelino, an Argentine transplant with eye-searing fashion sense, takes Carl’s photography class and Carl is immediately smitten with everything from his facial hair to his nipple jewelry, and is quite sure that this is love. Cupid is personified, as are Carl’s other advisors Lust and Common Sense, who all take turns advising him. It swings between funny and creepy, mostly because poor Common Sense loses so often, starting with the instance early in the book where Carl hijacks Marcelino off the dance floor and begs him to move in.

This novel has to be described as character driven, and if there is growth in character, it might *possibly* be Carl’s evolution from the frenzy of infatuation to a deeper affection. Marcel (as he asks Carl to call him) is slower to warm up and while he moves in relatively early in the book, he keeps his feelings more to himself, until he explodes all over the page with his fears, past, and concerns, most of which go unhinted throughout the book. The external plot is primarily slice of life, a series of incidents that draw reactions from “That’s nice” all the way to “WTF are you thinking?” and including jealous spats, followed by make-up sex. Most everything that happens is followed by sex. Or is sex. There’s lots and lots of sex.

The abusive ex subplot is the most definite plot arc—Carl does shove him away every time he shows up, but the manipulation continues—ex pushes for forgiveness he hasn’t earned and Carl acquiesces. Marcel has a certain overlap with the ex, but a very different execution.

My lack of connection with Carl, whom I perceived as the self-absorbed creature who never shuts up, really got in the way of enjoying whatever character growth there might be. At one point he compares himself to a “Jack Russell terrier on puppy uppers,” and his incessant inner monologue and flamboyant manners made that apt. You’d think an “old hippie” might relax while stoned or drunk, but no.

Carl’s mental state can be tracked by his waterfall of words—he never uses one when a paragraph will do, and there’s a huge amount of alliteration, which either calms down as the book progresses, or I stopped noticing out of self-defense. The highly dramatic tone maintains throughout the story.

I indulged in a quick muscleman pose and laughed. Relentless sit-ups and yoga had created almost tight abdominal muscles. My insecurity reasoned that if I chased fresh cream like Marcelino, I needed to roam in the same zip code as perfection. Fine, at least I needed to occupy the same county.

My silly debate over my party outfit gave me a headache. When had a critical tween seized my senses? OMG, like, I have nothing to weeeaaaaarrr!

While I ended the story wishing the couple well, I had a hard time staying invested in them because of tone and style issues, and because the growth issues are so subtle that I ask myself if I’m imagining them. 3 marbles

Don't Try This At Home (Anthology)

Title: Don’t Try This At Home

Author: Anthology, several

Cover Artist: Paul Richmond

Publisher: Dreamspinner  

Genre: anthology

Length: 290 pages

Bonked heads. Rough carpet. Burned dinner. Awkward silence. Bitten lips. Startling length. Spilled wax. Pinched fingers. Shattered wineglass. Closet quickie. Flat souffle. Broken bedframe. Shower sex. Overzealous spanking. Embarrassing ex. Lost wallet. Terrible taste. Sore shoulders. Noxious odor. Absent date. Unbelievable girth. Kitchen canoodling. New toy. Stained sheets. Backward compliment. Stifling pillow. Locked handcuffs. Aching ass. Missing keys. Torn seams. Wrenched back. Angry cat. Overeager pass. Uncooperative zipper.

 Something always goes wrong in real life. Fortunately, in these stories love blunts the edges so that romance always triumphs over adversity.
 Stories included are:

 Midnight Caller by Anna Birmingham

Snapshots by Rena Butler

Basil's Luck by Henrietta Clarke

Boys, Toys, and Carpet Fitters by Taylin Clavelli

Outbursts by Bell Ellis

Tyler Wang Has a Ball by Kim Fielding

Boy Next Door by Ellee Hill

Gremlins in the Works by Kiernan Kelly

Good Food Gone Bad by Venona Keyes

Attack of the Hedgehogs by Kate Pavelle

It's Not What You Think by Teegan Loy

Slippery When Wet by K. Lynn

Desperate Measures by E.T. Malinowski

Gordon's Cat by Aundrea Singer

Photo Finish by AC Valentine

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh boy. I love anthologies, because I encounter new-to-me authors and a wide variety of voices. And it usually works better than this. This is a huge collection, and unfortunately, only about half the stories work well. Most of them are plagued with excessive amounts of that which the anthology calls for. It isn’t enough to have one embarrassing issue or inciting problem: most of the MCs endure issue after issue after embarrassing and/or dangerous issue, to the point of making me wonder how on earth they survived to adulthood. The stories that have a single problem point work much better, unless the reader has a taste for slapstick. I never found the Three Stooges all that funny or sexy, and unfortunately several of these stories are operating on the same principle.

(Note to readers ER=emergency room/trauma department)

 Midnight Caller by Anna Birmingham Aaron is plagued with a noisy neighbor, and they work at cross purposes regarding the noise until they come together to make some racket of their own. This one went three disasters past my amusement point but got a smile at the end. 3

Snapshots by Rena Butler Starting with one character passed out on a bathroom floor is pretty inauspicious, and it takes quite a lot of convincing to get Alex into bed with Bryce. With disaster after disaster, culminating in words that should never have been uttered, the overwhelming number of disasters actually had a point here. 3.5

Basil's Luck by Henrietta Clarke – Basil, the POV character, is constantly attacked by inanimate objects and is one of the “how did he survive to adulthood” characters. The lead-in is funny but the humor isn’t sustained, though the other MC seems to find constant disaster with ER visits appealing. Perhaps broken glass and gashed hands are sexy to other readers. 1.5

Boys, Toys, and Carpet Fitters by Taylin Clavelli After wading through pages of backstory on the MC, his parents, his dog, his friends… I bailed. Trying to be fair, I came back to the story after a few days. However, more than 3000 words of meandering on topics as irrelevant as the MC’s mother’s musical tastes in the 80s and stupid dating tricks played by his friends were not any more appealing on second try, and damaged by overexplaining. When the actual story began, the premise was kind of cute but burdened with multiple multiple disasters, more meandering, and a reader with no patience left. The extraneous material may have been intended to establish character, but the same establishment could have been handled in about an eighth of the word count and in far more interesting fashion. A severe pruning and a major rewrite would rescue the premise, but as it stands, no. 1

 

Outbursts by Bell Ellis  The disasters are pretty much institutionalized here, with Mattastrophes and Mattaclysms happening every few paragraphs, unfortunately without enough panache to make it entertaining, mostly a function of the style. They do grope to a satisfactory conclusion. 2.5

Tyler Wang Has a Ball by Kim Fielding  A visit to the “Testicle Festival” plays fast and loose with the MC’s vegetarianism, but the things a guy will do to please a cute cowboy. Another trip to the ER as foreplay story with some errors of fact. 3

Boy Next Door by Ellee Hill Another three disasters past the funny story, but with some cute dialog. 3

Gremlins in the Works by Kiernan Kelly For as many disasters as this one had, there was also a unifying element, and very little goes completely awry in Kiernan Kelly’s hands. Not so for the MCs, who are convinced their house is out to get them. Her beleaguered homeowners solve their mystery and made me smile, for the solution and the humorous language of the entire tale. 4

Good Food Gone Bad by Venona Keyes Highly inconsistent story with completely over the top disasters brought crashing to earth with the not funny. Had it remained over the top, that would have been one thing, or more realistic, that would have been another, but it was burdened with both attitudes. This led to a character who bleaches the floor repeatedly while reciting the germs that might rise up to slay him but still sticks his fingers in his partner’s ass (source of floor germs) while cooking. Blech. 2

Attack of the Hedgehogs by Kate Pavelle  A little wandering at first, this story establishes a bit of D/s of the more mental kind, and is mostly sex. The story ends on a hilarious twist, ending rather far from where it started, and it got me to laugh out loud. 3.5

It's Not What You Think by Teegan Loy A little too much to drink at a party, and Micah’s having plenty of trouble deciding when to evade and when to clutch. What’s going on is quite clear to the reader early on, but it’s still cute, and here it’s how the story plays out more than what it is. Slapping a secondary character two or three times seemed like a good idea. 3.75

Slippery When Wet by K. Lynn  Given the nature of the injuries and the completely unrealistic response to them, I was left shaking my head. The way out of the rut may have led to the ER, but not like this. I couldn’t believe in the characters or the ending. 2

Desperate Measures by E.T. Malinowski  A situation that barely made sense beyond “impress the important client” has lovers Parker and Greg scrambling to make a lavish dinner and working at cross purposes. I didn’t buy in to either characters or situation, but the element of working to a common goal was refreshing. 3

Gordon's Cat by Aundrea Singer One of the most charming and romantic of the stories, this focuses on the budding relationship between Gordon and Mitch, who have the usual new couple bobbles, complicated by a spiteful feline. Each man’s solution to the cat problem is different, but they’re trying hard to make it work and give everyone what they need. Big Aw ending. 4

Photo Finish by AC Valentine My favorite of the collection, this story features Skylar, who plans his spontaneity in hopes of pleasing his unpleasable boyfriend. You know this can’t end well, at least in one direction, but serves for exposing the barrenness in one relationship and the richness in another. Nothing is forced or contrived here, it’s a one problem story, and it works. 4.25

******

 In the best of all possible readings, one would read a story or two at a time, which would lighten the effect of unrelenting disasters. Fifteen tales of things gone wrong is far too much at a gulp, particularly when some of the treatments are so heavy handed. I would revisit a few of these stories, but I’m not in love with the collection as a whole. Grading this anthology as an average of the individual scores is much kinder than the overall impression made, and results in 2.75 marbles.

Cop Out by KC Burn

Title: Cop Out
Author: K.C. Burn
Cover Artist: Reece Dante
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: contemporary
Length: 200 pages


Detective Kurt O’Donnell is used to digging up other people’s secrets, but when he discovers his slain partner was married to another man, it shakes him. Determined to do the right thing, Kurt offers the mourning Davy his assistance. Helping Davy through his grief helps Kurt deal with the guilt that his partner didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth, and somewhere along the way Davy stops being an obligation and becomes a friend, the closest friend Kurt has ever had.

His growing attraction to Davy complicates matters, leaving Kurt struggling to reevaluate his sexuality. Then a sensual encounter neither man is ready for confuses them further. To be with Davy, Kurt must face the prospect of coming out, but his job and his relationship with his Catholic family are on the line. Can he risk destroying his life for the uncertain possibility of a relationship with a newly widowed man?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cop Out starts out with a bang, literally; Kurt’s been shot and his partner killed. He’s been paired with Ben a long time, but in a work relationship, not a true friendship. They have nearly no personal interactions, no shared confidences, and Kurt is floored with the realization of exactly how little he knew the man he trusted with his life.


It isn’t until Ben’s funeral and then by accident that Kurt realizes Davy was Ben’s partner for ten years, and then he’s further horrified to find out what sort of narrow existence Davy was forced into by Ben’s secrecy. Nothing of Davy's personality could contaminate Ben’s life, not even a few colorful items sprinkled around their icy-white home.

Knowing that Davy would need support in his bereavement, and thinking it very unlikely that he’d get it from anyone else, Kurt appoints himself a friend and guardian; he’s got quite a bit of spare time during his recuperation, and later he’s a constant, as much as Davy will let him be. Appalled by how far short of a loving relationship between equals Ben and Davy had, Kurt wants to help Davy heal. Little moves like cheering his own favorite sports teams and bringing out the crazy quilt to stain a pristine white room mark Davy’s grieving and recovery, and Kurt’s pleased with helping along each small step.

Kurt’s own life requires some recovery: a new partner with a normal curiosity and friendship to offer helps heal him of Ben’s miasma. His new partner is there for him in a series of small milestones, and to worry about him when he’s not doing well. Simon is the antithesis of Ben; he’s a complete and decent human being.

As Kurt and Davy do a slow build back to normal, Kurt starts’ to question his feelings—this isn’t friendship as he knows it, not with ever-harder-to squash-back sexual feelings, culminating in a bout of angry sex that brings matters to a head. Because Davy rightly calls BS on Kurt for treating him the way Ben did, in many important ways.

This book is an extreme emotional roll-coaster; we see everything through Kurt’s turmoil, first over the existence of a long term relationship he never suspected, then his anger over Ben’s treatment of Davy, and especially over his own growing sexual desires. Kurt’s always thought of himself as straight but not highly sexed, and the slow reveal of the truth, first to himself, and then to family and friends, is the main focus of the story. Cop work is a background topic: even the eventual take-down of the crime lord responsible for Ben’s death is treated as a throwaway scene.

The emotional upheaval makes this a very vivid out-for-you story, and as long as we’re focused on Kurt, it’s enjoyable: even his falling-to-pieces times were well-drawn and believable. Davy though, has a decade of what is essentially an emotionally abusive relationship, and while I loved that he grew confident and even assertive, and refused to tolerate a second round of it, thinking too hard about those ten years is a little stomach churning. I hated Ben deeply by the middle of the book, and he gets no screen time as a live person.

Kurt does eventually decipher himself and comes out, although his choices of people to tell were a matter for headdesking. Unfortunately, whacking him with a clue-by-four was not an option for the reader.

Davy and Kurt do reconcile nearly as traumatically as they met, and it’s quite satisfying to read. We’re even allowed to share a bit of them being happy together, and one closes the book with a lascivious but happy smile. 4 marbles


**Clue-by-four shamelessly stolen from Angela Benedetti, but she left it lying around in a comment.

Italian Ice by EM Lynley

Title: Italian Ice
Author: E.M. Lynley
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: action/adventure
Length: 290 pages

In this exciting sequel to Rarer Than Rubies, gay romance author Trent Copeland and former FBI agent Reed Action head to Italy for a Roman holiday. What should be a relaxing and romantic vacation is interrupted when Reed’s not-so-former boss asks for his help with a case. Trent's shocked to discover in the six months they’ve been living together in LA, Reed hasn’t been completely honest about his "retirement."

Reed heads for Sicily on the trail of a suspected antiquities-smuggling ring and to find Peter Isett—a former FBI partner he also hasn’t been completely truthful about. Stung by Reed’s dishonesty, Trent questions what else Reed might be hiding. But when he overhears something that tells him Reed's life is in danger, Trent follows Reed to a remote chain of ancient volcanic islands off Sicily's northern coast. Soon Trent is caught up in the smugglers’ web, and Reed must decide between his heart and his mission—a decision complicated by his past with Peter. Reed’s position is perilous: unless he can learn to put the past behind him, he risks destroying everything he's built with Trent.

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

There’s nothing quite like getting called in to work while you’re on vacation halfway around the world from home—but if you’re vacationing where the work is, goodbye sightseeing. Reed’s phone goes off while he and his lover Trent are exploring the Vatican museums, and that’s the end of fun in Italy.

Reed and Trent got together in Rarer than Rubies, and if you don’t care to start with an established couple, definitely read that first. (Read it anyway, it’s good.) These two are on much shakier ground than either of them believe, so if you don’t mind catching up on the history as you go, this also stands alone. The reveal of the backstory is nicely done and doesn’t go beyond what’s needed to enjoy this one.


Trent’s shattered to find out how much Reed has kept from him all this time; while he doesn’t expect to hear every detail, something as big as still being an active agent ought to get mentioned. Given that Reed had a personal relationship with his old partner Peter, and that Reed’s never really told Trent much about this part of his past, this new mission has the potential to cost them their relationship.

The writer in Trent has to pick at the mystery and follow the clues: he was deeply if accidentally involved in the Ruby Buddha affair in Thailand in the first book, and a visit to an antiquities auction puts him in the middle of Reed’s newest mission. The volatility of their feelings mixes with the danger Reed’s walking into, and Trent cannot just sit back and let Reed go. At every turn Trent’s somehow mixed in, and very often he has a critical insight or action that makes it possible for Reed to pick apart the mystery. It’s a lovely dance, this mix of educated novice and professional, and critical to their ultimate success.

The men have a lot of differences in tastes and philosophies, and some very different ways of seeing the world. They manage to meet in the middle in ways as side effects of everything else they are involved in, which is very deftly done.

The setting, starting in Rome and moving to the volcanic isles of Sicily, is very nearly a character too. EM Lynley makes us smell the volcanic fumes, feel the ocean spray on our faces, taste the fresh from the sea food, and occasionally smell the alleyways. Once in a while it’s a little guide-booky, but the author clearly loves this region and makes us feel it too. Smatterings of Italian streak the pages, and the local proverbs for chapter headers add a nice touch.

I loved Trent, although I did occasionally get aggravated with his focus on relationships rather than the external dangers—romance writers do stay on topic. I also liked Reed, and sometimes wanted to shake him over matters of honesty in his relationships; he’s willing to let 800 lb gorillas sit in the living room for long periods. However, the two men and their needs interwove tightly with the smuggling plot, and the finale brought everything together with a giant crash and wrap.

The smuggling plot had layers on layers, with smiling villains that didn’t go over the top. The stakes were high but not ridiculous, the evil bad but dedicated to achieving specified ends. The odds were stacked deeply against Reed and Trent, but on a scale that was difficult, not absurd. Overall, a good balance.

The epilogue was the weakest section, bending belief in Reed and restaurants, and leaving me wanting to choke one minor character with a piece of bruschetta. Fortunately, the main story already left me confident in Trent and Reed’s solidification as a couple.

I’ve read other art/adventure books by this author and enjoyed them, and was really glad to see a new one. 4.5 stars

Fire on the Mountain by PD Singer

Title: Fire on the Mountain
Author: P.D. Singer
Cover Artist: Reece Dante
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary m/m
Length: 72k

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.

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

Jake Landon’s ready to hide from the world and his own sexuality for the duration of the fire season, a plan that would work a whole lot better if his new partner wasn’t seriously hot and wholly uninhibited. From the opening scene, where Kurt rinses off the sweat from firefighting in an impromptu shower to an unplanned trip into a chilly mountain lake to retrieve runaway groceries, Kurt’s clothes don’t stay on consistently. For two guys who aren’t exactly part of civilization, this shouldn’t be a problem.


Unless, of course, everything about your partner, from his little adjustments of your arm to correct your archery stance to the sight of his ranger-green utilities stretched tight across his butt while he’s climbing a tree gives you a raging case of lust. Poor Jake—he’s terrified to reach out to what he’s not entirely sure is being offered. At twenty-two, he’s only now coming to terms with his own desires and is almost completely inexperienced.

The unresolved sexual tension chases Jake through the national forest where he and Kurt patrol and on into the tiny mountain town where the local girls see them as romantic opportunities. The mountains, the town, and the people they meet are vividly drawn and very much a part of city-boy Jake’s new experiences, and the firefighting that Kurt and Jake occasionally have to do leaps off the page.

Matters come to a head when a fire goes out of control and they find themselves trapped in a small cave, unsure if they’ll be alive in twenty-four hours and with nothing else to do except sleep, swap stories, and discover exactly what’s on Kurt’s mind. If they live through this, there will be time enough to find out what’s next, and the scene that makes it possible made me cry every time. (I’ve read this more than once.)

Jake is the POV character throughout the entire story, and so we’re privy to his longings and terrors, and we see Kurt only though his eyes. Kurt’s something of a mountain man, experienced in the wilderness, although his occasional lapses in either good sense or skills keep him from being too heroic to his greenhorn partner. Kurt has his own scars and fears, which come out very gradually, and explain the slow build of the relationship and the difficulties they have resolving it. It’s sweetly done in and around the adventure, and the ending is the perfect lead-in for the sequels.

This story was originally released in shorter form by another publisher, which I have read, and can say that the expansions are appropriate and add dimension to the story. As part of the re-release, the author included an 11k bonus story in Kurt’s POV, which elaborates on a pivotal incident in his past, touched on briefly in the story. While technically it’s a prequel, it belongs in its current position after the novel in order to avoid spoilers on Kurt’s personality and motives. It’s also an armchair adventure for those of us who will never climb El Capitan. Into the Mountains makes Kurt’s eventual HEA with Jake that much more poignant.

Fire on the Mountain is the first of five loosely connected novels which will be coming out at two month intervals; the next (Snow on the Mountain) is due mid-August. Three will have associated bonus stories, all will have both trade paperback and ebook versions, and I hope they’re all as good as this one! 5 Marbles

Red+Blue by A.B. Gayle

Title: Red+Blue
Author: A.B. Gayle
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: contemporary
Length: 325

An Opposites Attract novel
Fresh from backwoods Minnesota, actuarial student Ben Dutoit is ecstatic to land a job with Sydney Sutherland Family Insurance, one of the few companies that offers life insurance to people in the high-risk category. The fact that he gets to work in Gay Central, aka San Francisco, is just the icing on the rainbow-colored cake. Ben sets himself just three goals: be out and proud enough to participate in the Pride parade; seek out the company of like-minded souls in the clubs; and maybe, if he's lucky, fall in love. But the men Ben meets are everything he's not: suave, confident, sophisticated, and sexy. Unlike redneck Ben, they're blue bloods from blue states, born with status, wealth, and the responsibility that comes with the package. Ben's still wondering if red and blue can mix when he discovers what risk really means. The global economy tanks. The job he looked forward to is in jeopardy, and every dream Ben ever had is threatened, especially love, the biggest dream of all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The setting of this story is unique—insurance is one of those non-sexy essentials, something we don’t usually think about unless we’re either paying a premium or making a claim. A.B. Gayle gives a behind the scenes look into an industry that runs off math and investing, mostly through the eyes of Ben, the actuarial student—he doesn’t spend much time crunching numbers, and he’s a lot sexier than the usual math nerd. He’s come flying out of the closet once he comes to San Francisco, and dips his pen into the company ink with Jason, who’s much wilder than the usual insurance salesman.

[Review edited because I was a terrible reviewer and made spoilers. Bad Crys! Bad, bad Crys!]


Jason’s handy and randy, but the man Ben’s really noticing is Adrian, the boss. Appearing much older than his thirty-five years, Adrian’s trying to get back into the shape he’s let slip since he returned to the United States to work in the family insurance business. They spend a lot of gym time together becoming friends, which is more than Ben really expects, because, well, Adrian’s the boss. He’s not entirely in control of the company—Adrian’s father may have retired from day to day operations but is still very much calling the shots. If the old man says Laurel will be chief actuary, then by golly, Laurel will be making decisions, and hanging on Adrian’s arm at social functions too.


While I liked both Ben and Adrian as flawed but well-intentioned men, the other characters didn’t come off so well. Jason has some late-revealed layers, and Adrian’s controlling father is at last shown in his self-created loneliness, but the complexity for both comes just before they exit stage left. Laurel, alas, while smart, ambitious, and pretty, has all those characteristics portrayed with spectacular hatefulness, and comes across with little depth.

In the end, each man finds a way to stand up for what he considers truly important, and they find themselves together, again on the brink of establishing a relationship.

I really enjoyed the story, for the personal growth of the main characters—Adrian’s confrontation with his father is an extraordinary scene. The unusual setting, split between the insurance offices, the night life of the Castro, and a vineyard, also enhance the story, as does the inner workings of a product we need but don’t understand much. The author shows us some behind the scenes issues of two different businesses, and provides insight into what an actuary does without beating us with math. While the story would have benefited from streamlining the opening half, I plan to read more from this author. 3.5 marbles

The Rare Event by PD Singer

The Rare Event by P.D. Singer
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Genre: GLBT, M/M, Contemporary, Erotic Romance
Length: 350 pages
Rating: 5 Divas and a Recommended Read 


Hedge fund trader Ricky Santeramo has it all: money, looks, and fellow trader Jonathan Hogenboom. The two couldn’t be more different: Jon is from old money, while Ricky clawed his way out of blue-collar New Jersey. Jon hedges his positions; Ricky goes for broke. Jon likes opera and the Yankees; Ricky prefers clubbing. Jon drinks wine with dinner; Ricky throws back a beer. Jon wants monogamy… but Ricky likes variety.

Bankrupt airlines are facing strikes, the housing market is starting to crumble, and Jon can’t wait any longer for Ricky to commit. One last night alone and one last risky trade make Jon say, “Enough.” Then Jon’s old friend Davis comes to New York City, ready for baseball and forever. The whole world is chaos, but there are fortunes to be made—or lost—and hearts to be broken—or won.

Faced with losing it all, Ricky must make the savviest trades of his life and pray for a rare event. His portfolio and Jon’s love are on the line


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“Not committed yet” and cheating aren’t the same, and if you can’t see a difference, don’t even pick up this book. You’ll only be unhappy with Ricky, who hasn’t moved past the dating stage even though Jon is ready and anxious for them to be exclusive. PD Singer has started in the middle of the story in The Rare Event, and a jam packed story it is.


Ricky and Jon work together in a hedge fund with a tainted reputation. Their boss Edgar is a social pariah for good reason, and hires his staff from the fringes of the financial world, even if they are smart and talented. Whether they didn’t go to top tier schools, or have some scandal in their past, if they can’t make it here, they might as well go work for a bank in Syracuse because the rest of Wall Street won’t touch them. And if they fight Edgar, they’d better be ready to leave. He seems over the top, but once I read the news reports about the sex scandals at the International Monetary Fund, it’s more art imitating life. It’s not just the mortgage crisis that was ripped from the headlines into the fabric of this book.

Both Ricky and Jon would love to find some leverage against the old monster but fear of what he’ll do to get even deters them. In the meantime, they’ve got to make some money in between trips to Fire Island and trying to sort out whether or not Ricky is ever going to commit to Jon. Each of them have their own sorrows, and what makes each of them tick is gradually revealed. Some of it is heartbreaking—I wanted to hunt down one character and punch his nose, but even he comes to understand where he went wrong. There is no easy forgiveness for such a terrible wrong, and the book doesn’t cheapen either the apology or the reaction by reaching for it.

Jon finally decides that he can’t wait any longer for Ricky to make up his mind because the waiting hurts too much. That’s one rare event Ricky didn’t see coming, and he misses the signs on another, but in his defense, Wall Street missed the signs too in real life. So he has two disasters on his doorstep, and now Davis, someone Jon’s known a long time, is in the picture and hoping Jon is interested, as in forever, now, please, interested, and the best he gets is baseball games. Ricky can only grit his teeth and watch, and endure the baseball, which he thinks is like watching paint dry.

Ricky ends up finding out what is really important to him, with Jon, with his honor, and with his career. Ms Singer takes everything away from him before giving him anything back at all because he has to grow into being worthy of Jon, who also grows into more self-confidence.

Watch for PD Singer’s trademark secondary romance in the background. It’s kind of cute, and another character desperately needs a story of his own. The other secondary characters are well-rounded and vivid; the action on the trading floor is wild and the sums of money involved are enormous but true. There’s a glossary in the back that explains enough of the technical stuff for us to keep up with the stock market scenes, and if you just read it as yeah, they know what they’re doing, it’s still exciting, and sexy. As Ricky says about misbehaving at the office, “I reserve the right to one kiss for every fifty thousand dollars. Another nineteen million dollar day could test my resolve.” The story is very plotty, and it all ties in with the romance.

The underlying idea here is separating value from price, and about finding out what’s really important to you. Ricky comes to understand what he should treasure, and becomes a far better man in the process. This book is truly a Rare Event. 5 Marbles

Just His Type by E.E. Montgomery

Title: Just His Type
Author: E.E. Montgomery
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary, Bittersweet
Length: 28 pages

Daron’s looking for a certain type: he loves tall, slim older men, and he’s sure one of them will be his one true love, even though he doesn’t truly believe he deserves it. His lack of confidence leads him to a series of meaningless encounters with strangers, convinced that eventually he’ll find a relationship to last a lifetime. His best friend and coworker, Rebel, offers Daron the only stable relationship he’s ever known. Rebel is younger than Daron and only slightly taller, so definitely not his type. Daron enjoys the time they spend together, but refuses to allow himself to think it could be anything more than friendship. He’s never bothered to consider what Rebel thinks….

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

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The Bittersweet line from Dreamspinner tends to very high quality love stories that don’t have an HEA. Most of them have an unexpected twist to account for the absence, or have something as basic as not breathing the same element that interferes. Not here though: there is no strong and enduring love. Daron, the POV character, is extremely shallow and unpleasantly delusional. One can only wonder why Rebel persists.


At nearly thirty, Daron feels the need for something beyond casual encounters, but instead of insisting on something as basic as a name before falling to his knees, he hits the concrete yet again in a tawdry semi-public encounter with someone who’s willing to take but not give. Somehow, this convinces Daron that not only is the man perfect for him, but that given enough time and blowjobs, the stranger will gift him with a name and a relationship and things will be wonderful. All evidence to the contrary fails to budge his dreamworld.

The anonymous connoisseur of blowjobs is perfectly upfront about his intentions.

“I remember the way your hair shines in dim light and
the warmth of your mouth.” The tall man shrugged. “Who
knows how long it’ll take me to remember your name.”

This apparently has enough poetry in it to be seen as an endearing quirk to be overcome on the path to true love.

Sensible commentary (“Him? Still? Are you serious? Why the fuck are you doing this?”) plus little hints from Rebel make no impression either. Out and out suggestions of dates get transformed into something work-related.

The parallel of both men yearning after the unattainable fails to make the story any more satisfying—there is no relationship to twist into the bittersweet sighs of something wonderful gone awry. Even Daron’s late realizations fail to elicit much sympathy after he’s persisted in his fantasy beyond rationality, and I was left glad that Rebel had dodged a bullet.

The writing is competent, but the plot is aggravating; there is no love here even to go wrong, only might have beens, and only one character who elicits any sympathy at all. And it’s neither Daron nor Rebel. 2 Marbles