Favorites from 2016

I've been fortunate to read some great books this year. Each of these books had a something special to make it stay on my mind. Thank you, authors.

Lucky Starflowers by Kate Pavelle

Title: Lucky Starflowers
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Amazon 
Purchase at All Romance eBooks 
Cover Artist: Hard Candies Publishing
Genre: contemporary
Length: 88k
Formats Mobi, epub, pdf, audio

Theodore and his cousin Rickey inherited their aunt’s flower shop, Starflowers. They decide to run and improve it with their families’ financial support. Starflowers gives Theodore’s life meaning after a depressing breakup. Focusing on work is easy when he’s absolutely sure there’s no space for a man in his life. If he did allow for a boyfriend, it would be someone boring and everyday. Someone unlike the exotic Attila. He’d have a cubicle job, wear a cheap suit, and drive a Kia.

Sam Grey is a professional gambler who got caught counting cards one too many times, and consequences can be severe. He got beaten up, robbed, injured, and ends up homeless in Pittsburgh, living out of his Porsche. His temporary job helping with the Valentine’s Day craze makes him yearn not only for the perky florist, but for a slower, friendlier way of life. When the shop runs into financial trouble, Sam’s dangerous and exotic skills might be just the thing to help Theodore and show him he’s not just a deadbeat moocher who’s “just passing through.”

"Lucky Starflowers" is a gay romance with a happy ending.

Remember Attila? From Wild Horses and Broken Gait? He’d be a hard lover to get over, just ask Theo. Not that Theo’s looking, he has this flower shop that’s eating up his life and his sanity. Valentine’s Day from a florist’s point of view = stress x 1000, all those perishable flowers that somehow have to get into sweethearts’ hands.

I really loved peeking into Theo’s head, not just for the romance, which I loved, but for a look at an industry that I mostly don’t think about beyond walking in and paying for a bouquet. All the work that goes into that bouquet never crossed my mind. I will never look at a flower shop the same again. Everything had the ring of “author has done this.”

And Sam—oh, I loved Sam. Nomadic and living out of a Porsche (icky details and all) while he hits the various casinos, he’s an interesting guy. In his guise as Samantha, he’ll liberate cash at the poker tables, with less risk of getting his winnings beaten out or him, usually.

These guys come together when Sam parks his flashy red “mobile home” behind the shop, and Theo needs another set of hands. Sparks fly while Sam learns the tasks, and Theo’s kind enough to give him a bed indoors. Not with him, until a LOLworthy/screamworthy situation arises. This author inserts some great humor in places, with some lines that really zinged.

Sam’s alter ego confuses the heck out of Theo, who isn’t sure what a taste for frilly panties and lipstick means. Watching him flounder around is fun, painful, and sad all at once. Sam isn’t in such a hurry to pin labels on himself, which is delightful self-acceptance. His ability with disguise and cards has a big role to play here.

I thoroughly enjoyed how these two come together, even though they remind themselves how Sam is a drifter and not for long term. With every scene, they show how this might need to change, even if admitting it is hard. The language is beautiful, the settings vivid, and the characters endearing. The author has even addressed a lingering issue with the promise of a short to come, so what’s not to love here?

Quick, someone send me flowers!  5 marbles

A Thousand Word Thursday Ficlet from Kate Pavelle

Swim, Bike, Run, Love  by Kate Pavelle

Blake didn’t know it at the time, but Josh knew how to cook. He’d never considered culinary expertise to be the one, critical component that sealed the deal. I mean, look at them. Blake’s tall and muscled body next to Josh’s totally average physique. Blake’s crazy training schedule against Josh’s total disinterest in exercise. Blake’s Olympic ambitions, which so many guys had considered sexy, versus the easy smile that lit up Josh’s face whenever something funny had happened in the office.

A top-level triathlete and an insurance salesman.

No way.

They told him it could never work.

Even his parents, for fuck’s sake, turned their noses when he had brought Josh to a family dinner for the first time.

“I don’t want to say anything,” his mom said delicately much later, when Blake took a stroll in the backyard with her to admire her stunning flower garden. “But he seems like kind of... I don’t know. Nice enough, but so ordinary. All those strapping young men you’ve brought before had so much more in common with you!”

Back then, Blake had been concerned, but now he only smiled as the tire of his bike hissed against the hot pavement. Their differences were precisely what made them tick.

Other athletes, regardless of their sizzling chemistry and visual appeal, just couldn’t keep up with him. Blake was just that fast, that good. He resented having to slow down for them during his training runs and rides, and their competitive streak had never let them live it down.

Aaron, Bob, and Clay. Damon, Ethan, Frank, and Garry. The list went on, a parade of hopefuls with bright-eyed dreams who could never quite catch up in the pool, who didn’t climb the hills fast enough, who had to cut their slower runs just a bit short.

They tried – and he had, too. They all suffered the same jock itch, the black toes of runners and the dry and itchy skin of chlorine-pickled swimmers. They were all saddle-sore, and they all scheduled sex around their bike rides.

They all ate the same synthetic, high-protein crap made palatable by adding berries, kale, and soy milk. Ugh.

“I thought nutrition was the fourth discipline of triathlon,” Josh had said incredulously after he’d studied the ingredients on the big protein isolate canister. “This stuff, don’t they feed it to pigs and chickens and stuff? It... it doesn’t even remember where it came from!”

Blake shrugged. “Cooking takes time. Shopping takes time. Between training and work, well...” he trailed off, scratching the hair at the base of his neck. It did taste awful, and so did those little on-the-run gel packs. He couldn’t abide the cloying sweetness of sports drinks, not unless he really needed them, and even though bananas were nature’s prepackaged post-recovery snack, the thought of their squished mushiness after a five-hour ride made him want to hurl.

“I can cook, and I will.” Josh had started out making good on his declaration five months ago with grilled salmon and quinoa-cucumber salad. They survived the holidays and the waves of cookies and booze.

They moved in together after New Year, and Josh was a good sport about the chlorinated pool towels and bathing suits all over the bathroom and the bike trainer that stood in the living room, facing the television.

And, Josh could cook. It was spring now, and pasta with foraged morel mushrooms or chicken done up in an improvised smoker was close to a religious experience, a revelation of how life could be.

But only with Josh. Only with his quirky jokes and ready smile, with his way of drawing Blake toward something new and interesting on his off-days. His non-training days, when they could eat horrid, non-organic crap in an amusement park, or see a jazz concert, or visit friends who didn’t go nuts over their times and splits and personal best in the latest race.

Only with Josh, who curled next to him at night, who nurtured both his body and his soul.

If Josh lasted the year, Blake would drop on one knee and say the words. One year, just so Josh knew full-well what he was getting into.

Blake already knew. 

He wanted forever.

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

 AW! Kate Pavelle's given us a triathlete's romance in such a small package! She has a bigger triathlete's romance too. Part's one and two are on my Kindle, and part three will be along later this summer. I foresee a Kate Pavelle binge in my future, which just might include a reread of Lucky Starflowers (review soon!).

Buffeted by the winds of fate, Jesse Hightower drifted far from his Crow reservation. Family issues, foster homes, and living hard on the street. Now his computer-jockey job got him out of shape, and a tough split with Renata threw him into depression. Even worse -- to keep his job, he has to train for a mandatory, company-wide triathlon. 

An heir to an ice cream empire, Sebastian Gillen was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and family expectations of an executive career. A brilliant swimmer, Sebastian had given up his shot at the Olympics for the sake of business. Meeting Jesse at the pool is an exciting breath of fresh air. Inspired by Jesse’s inner strength, Sebastian resolves to make this boyfriend thing work, even if he has to stand up to his family – including his sister, Renata. Buy at Amazon

"When it feels like it's us against the world, let's not forget the friends that have our backs." 

Jesse and Sebastian are together now – or are they? Sebastian wages a murky corporate battle on his own. When his distance and stress turns Jesse into a mess, Jesse’s boss Tyler remembers what his own break-up with Sebastian felt like. He pulls a few strings to help Jesse, he hits Sebastian with a clue-bat. His intervention works wonders, but the sense of harmony is just a calm before the storm. 

Sebastian’s plan to ease into living with Jesse openly dies as he’s outed and blackmailed. The ground under his feet crumbles. From a business suit to cheap construction boots, his life of privilege in a conservative family business falls apart and only Jesse and the constancy of triathlon training keeps him sane. Sebastian’s goals are clear: They won’t be homeless. They’ll make ends meet. For Jesse, he’ll do anything.   Buy at Amazon

Cover Capers with Kate Pavelle

Cryselle: I’ve invited author Kate Pavelle to chat with us regarding some aspects of being the publisher. Anyone who ever ran a business knows that business plans don’t survive contact with reality, that's partly what happened to her protagonist Theo in Lucky Starflowers, which I will be reviewing shortly. [Loved it!]  So what is an author with a really good novel to do? (disclaimer, I’ve been reading the Steel City series, and they just keep getting better. Lucky Starflowers stands alone, but it’s so fun to meet familiar faces in cameo roles. Reviews for the others here  here and here.)

Kate, tell us about this adventure.

Kate: Hi everyone, I’m Kate Pavelle and I wrote “Lucky Starflowers.” There’s a blurb below, and I won’t go into it other than to say that it’s a gay romance adventure with a happy ending and without any inconvenient cliff-hangers.

Today I’d like to lift the curtain and let you have a peek at the Self-Publishing Witch. The SPW (pronounced “spew”) is wont to promise books and stories to her readers, but she’s horrible at sticking to deadlines. This isn’t because of any kind of a writer’s block or lack of inspiration – nah, writing’s the relatively smooth part of the process. The snags come in form of beta reads, getting around to processing edits while already writing something else, arranging for a reliable proof-reader, launching blog-tours for existing releases, and making book covers.

Today is mostly about book covers. I’ve read that a book cover can either make or break a book, and I sort of got that, but I didn’t grok it until I had experienced my own screw-up. See, I took an online course on how to make basic book covers in InDesign, and how to brand them to the appropriate genre. It gave me a good start. Then I learned some Photoshop, and I got cocky. With manipulating layers and using the eraser and the liquify tool, you can do so much, right? Well... you can do a LOT, but you also need to have the aesthetic sensitivity to pull off a good graphic design. That takes experience and talent and an eye for proportion. Which I sadly lack. But I don’t lack enthusiasm and the willingness to try something new, so here is my first book cover for “Lucky Starflowers:”

I figured the italics, together with the keywords, would indicate the genre, but... no cigar. Sales were so low I won’t even tell you how low. By now, however, I’d put the book out on Audible. Within two days I received an audition recording by Kevin Chandler, and he worked his magic on “Lucky Starflowers,” and now we have a wonderful audiobook. And I thought, “Since we are splitting the royalties, I have to make sure the sales are high enough so he comes out of this on top, too. Which means I have to make a better book cover!”

Cryselle: **eyes that cover**   Wait, a narrator? There’s an audiobook?

Kate: Yes! ~happy dance~

Cryselle: What was the hardest part about producing an audiobook?

Kate: I didn’t know this until I started receiving other audition recordings, but I really struck gold by meeting Kevin. Finding the right narrator is hard, and I got lucky. Other than that, waiting to get the new chapters uploaded was an exercise in patience. I really loved listening to them and see how they came across!

After doing some reading, I figured out that M/M romance books which feature two guys on the cover do a lot better than “concept designs.” I resigned myself to having two guys on the cover, something I almost never allow, but I wanted the new design to tie in with the old one. Which might’ve been a mistake, but whatever... After learning more about how hard it is to find a suitable stock photo model when you need one, and after I bit my lip and conceded that they’ll have to be half-naked because everyone else is staring right into the camera, I came up with this:

Don’t you just love those guys? Don’t you love their hair? And the flowers make it so romantic.

Cryselle: Haven’t I seen that dude around? So? Did it work?

Kate: Well, sort of. The cover told people what to expect, and the sales went up. However, when I shared the cover with Kevin, he responded by, very politely, commending me on my effort. And he proposed a cover of his own:

Cryselle: Oh, my. That belt buckle. Does that say ‘I’m from Montana’ or what? For the record, there are no characters from Montana in Lucky Starflowers.

Kevin: Well…

Kate: Yeah, seriously. I’d love to know exactly what his thoughts have been when he saw my cover at first!

Kevin: Well I knew you’d put a lot of work into it so I didn’t want to crush your spirit, but I was confident that the cover appeared too outdated to appeal my friends. I could tell that you were including certain elements, but to be honest I thought the overexposed flowers and 90s haircuts/fashion made it rather terrible (plus I liked your original font better!).

Kate: I suppose you don’t remember the glory days of Fabio.

Cryselle: I don’t remember Fabio hugging on another guy.

Kevin: You know, I get him and Yanni mixed up all the time! :-D No, I’m afraid Fabio was before my time but I’m sure he was a hottie back then. Anyhow, I showed your cover to a gay friend of mine and told him I didn’t know what to do or how to bring it up to you without hurting your feelings. He said to just tell you exactly that…and so I did! I’m glad I did and I’m much happier with the new new cover! I think it has all the important elements and is very appealing!

Kate: Banter aside, I hate to admit to this, but I really love his cover. Of course I resented the fact that I liked his better than my own! I was downright envious. Which is not, you might notice, very constructive. So I bounced the story of two covers off P.D. Singer, who wasn’t going to say anything. But since I asked, she suggested I scrap both. And, also being constructive, she recommended a professional cover designer who won’t break the bank. (I love the way people in this genre help each other!)

The cover below is what you’ll see when you go on Amazon to buy either the book or the audiobook – designed by Emma at www.hardcandiespublishing.com. We are all happy with it, and she’s fast and easy to work with!

So there you have it. Book covers are the bane of my indie existence, and if you see a lousy one on one of my titles, you can bet I decided to flex my Photoshop muscle once again! Will I stop trying to design my own book covers? Probably not. It’s too much fun. However, from now on, I promise not to stress over a book cover and just “hire it done” if I’m having a hard time.

Cryselle: Aside from the cover story, who else contributed to this book?

Kate: My beta reader, Jackie Keswick, was the voice of reason and spotted more than just a thing or two. My friend Sardonicista Imperfecta, who commits fan fiction with me when she isn’t practicing medicine, advised me on the nature, treatment, and healing time of various injuries. Jonathan Penn was a fabulously meticulous and timely proof-reader.

Cryselle: So what’s next?

Go buy an audiobook! Audible has a nice special going, and you can get it free if you are a new Audible user. Here is the link.

The book is available wherever fine e-books are sold.

As for other books, I’m finishing the SwimBikeRun trilogy, where the boys are giving me a very hard time. I have enough material for at least two more books. I won’t be turning it into a quintology (or a sextology, and get your mind out of the gutter!), but there will be a few stand-alones tied to this world.

My glassmaker suspense/romance “Flux” is in editing, and the cover has been commissioned and paid for (See? I may be stubborn, but I’m not unreasonable.) As long as I can keep from launching into new and shiny projects, my publishing schedule should hum along just fine.

Newsletter alert: I publish a newsletter every so often. Every issue contains a free story, or a free book, plus news of my latest release. Come sign up at www.katepavelle.com and join the fun!

“Lucky Starflowers” BLURB:

Theodore inherited Starflowers. The flower shop gives Theodore’s life meaning after a depressing breakup. Focusing on work is easy when he’s absolutely sure there’s no space for a man in his life. If he did allow for a boyfriend, it would be someone boring and everyday. Someone unlike the exotic Attila. He’d have a cubicle job, wear a cheap suit, and drive a Kia.

Sam Grey is a professional gambler who got caught counting cards one too many times, and consequences can be severe. He got beaten up, robbed, injured, and ends up homeless in Pittsburgh, living out of his Porsche. His temporary job helping with the Valentine’s Day craze makes him yearn not only for the perky florist, but for a slower, friendlier way of life. When the shop runs into financial trouble, Sam’s dangerous and exotic skills might be just the thing to help Theodore and show him he’s not just a deadbeat moocher who’s “just passing through.”

Cryselle: Just for the record, I read and LOVED Lucky Starflowers, review to follow shortly.

I want to commit fanfiction now

I just read a story so good I want to write fan fiction for it!

Lucky Starflowers, by Kate Pavelle.

Review to follow. Story, well, maybe Kate will write it. You want that. cause she's a lots better writer than me and it would have to live on my hard drive forever. We'll see what she says.

So, what do you guys think? Would you be happy if someone wanted more stories from your characters so bad they couldn't wait and started telling stories for themselves? Would you be grumpy that someone played with your characters?   I know there's Cut and Run fanfic, maybe others in MM.

Wild Horses by Kate Pavelle

Title: Wild Horses
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Dreamspinner
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Genre: contemporary, horses
Length: 117k words, 350 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

A Steel City Story

Homeless pickpocket Kai Alwright steals a cell phone and some cash one day only to find the owner texting him, appealing to his better qualities. The request to return the phone stings Kai’s pride; he rides his rusty bicycle all the way to the stables north of the city, where Attila Keleman, the phone’s owner, offers him a new start in the form of a job and a roof over his head. Soon Kai discovers a natural talent for work with horses, and he makes every effort to separate his new existence from his promiscuous past on the streets.

Attila is a reclusive horse trainer whose dressage trophies gather dust, and whose broken heart has been walled off. His undiagnosed Asperger’s makes life around people a challenge, but though he prefers the company of horses, Attila finds Kai’s presence tolerable—even refreshing.

When a client who rides at the stable with her daughter finds out Attila is “still gay,” she tries to run Kai off—and she doesn’t stop there. Mortified, her adult daughter runs away and falls victim to a dark figure from Kai’s past. Kai joins Attila in a rescue mission that tears the civilized masks off their hidden pasts.

In my disjointed way, I’ve come at last to the first of the Steel City stories. Broken Gait (reviewed here) is the continuation of these two characters’ story, but here’s where Kai and Attila start out. Actually where they really start out is in a story of the same name in Dreamspinner’s Animal Magnetism anthology, but since we have 117k words in the novel, there’s certainly more going on.


The story of the waif and the horseman has had other treatments elsewhere, but I did gobble up this one, because of Attila Keleman’s character. He’s controlled, formal, precise in his movements and dealings, and terribly shocked with himself if he does something spontaneous. The blurb mentions undiagnosed Aspergers’, but I wish it didn’t because that wrecks the reader’s opportunity to figure it out for herself. I at least got that treat because I read everything assbackwards, the blurb last of all.

Attila trains horses and is an acclaimed dressage rider, whose pithy text to the thief who stole his iPhone is a distillation of his personality. “Remember, you are better than stooping to such acts of petty thievery.” Short, controlled, high expectations, and the force of personality that makes people and horses tend to do his will. I liked Attila a lot, in part because his expectations are that people and horses will do the right thing.

Kai’s more problematic. He’s twenty-four but reads a lot younger, as if he has very little experience on his own, though that isn’t the case. He’s been on his own more than long enough to have picked up some street smarts and practical abilities. His background is a mining town in Appalachia. Dialect colors his speech infrequently, to the point where he becomes a trifle flat. He has the kind of stiff pride in doing the right thing, and occasionally the stupid but masculine thing, that Attila can respect. Attila also respects Kai’s natural ability with the horses as well as his willingness to shovel horse shit.

Attila’s family remain (start out as) the interesting people they were in the second book, although some of the other secondary characters were not as deftly drawn. One in particular is Evil Harridan #3 and mostly unique for her cougar-to-the-point-of-foulness ways. She could have been shut down fast, but was not, and that she pushed her daughter into desperate acts made sense. Daughter seems to have grown up in a remote cave, and also reads younger than stated age, though she has a couple of good moments.

The arc is mostly the coming together of the two men, overcoming Attila’s asocial ways and Kai’s fears of rejection, to the point where the action adventure sections become less about the mission and more about the relationship. This veered the story into an unsatisfactory path, at least for me, though it mostly ended well.

In the course of stripping away Kai and Attila’s secrets from each other, there was a brief foray into BDSM which at first had me going WTF? And Why now? but the author did resolve this in a way that a non-BDSM reader like me could deal with and believe in. There was in fact a trail of breadcrumbs that was more clear in hindsight.

I like this author’s writing style, and had to remind myself that this is one of her earlier pieces with some rough characterization and plot edges. Kai in particular is uneven and his actions don’t match who he’s supposed to be. He really comes across as about 16 in places, and so I’m glad I read out of order, and encountered him in the second book first. It’s true stable chores never end, but enough with the details of horse poop. Other issues repeat in odd and noticeable ways.

The horse sections are sweet and honest, very affectionate, and I had no idea horses would play like that. The author is a rider and would know.

This book was a step back in time for the author’s writing, and while there is a great deal to like in here, there are also issues that don’t exist in her latest work. That makes Wild Horses not my favorite of her books, but leaves the author as a go-to read. And maybe Attila and Kai get a third story where they can be their mature and confident selves. 3 marbles

Broken Gait by Kate Pavelle

Title: Broken Gait
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Dreamspinner
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Genre: contemporary
Length: 236 pages, 77k words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

Attila Keleman can find no flaw in Kai’s work at his stables. Three months later, toiling side by side, Attila is smitten. Proud of his new partner, Attila wants to introduce them as a couple at an upcoming horse show. First, however, he has to conquer his demon. Attila can’t stand crowds of people, and a horse shows means just that. Grandpa Keleman can’t help him with his crippling social anxiety from afar. Attila turns to his horse, Sen. His equine partner is trained to help him through the most difficult panic attacks. With Sen and Kai by his side, Attila knows he can risk everything and emerge out of his comfort zone.

Kai agrees to do the show only to help Attila out of his shell. Once there, the press are all over them. Kai’s personality and looks results in media buzz and modeling offers—while Attila falls apart when Sen goes lame. Unable to deal with the pressure, Attila is convinced Kai would be a fool not to flee for greener pastures. Meanwhile, Kai is hell-bent on showing Attila his weakness is also his greatest strength—even if it means resorting to deception.

This is the third of the Steel City novels. Having read them out of order, I can say confidently that doing so works, and which you’d choose depends on your mood. Broken Gait is a character driven novel of consolidation, while the first Kai and Attila story, Wild Horses, (review to follow) has more adventure to it. Jack and Wyatt from Zipper Fall have the tiniest of cameos here, and the connection is mostly in the location.

The author brings us up to speed on Kai and Attila in snips and details, enough to establish what we as readers need to know about what happened before in order to enjoy and understand this story. We find them here already a couple, but still on shaky ground with each other and with themselves. By the end of the book, they’ve found their footing.


Attila’s shocking (to Kai, it was more ^^ to me, but that’s for the Wild Horses review to come) revelation about how he deals with people is the driver for this story. He’s reserved and formal, which keeps people at a distance. Crowds and other high stimulus environments tax him deeply, a major cause of his leaving high-level dressage competition. Because he believes in doing the best for his students, which includes Kai, he forces himself back to the competition. They couldn’t have picked a worse time: a hurricane threatens to drown the show site or blow it out to Bermuda.

Kai, who is 25 and at last reads it, is the hit of the show. Tall, muscular, handsome with his flowing red hair, charming and a natural horseman, Kai and his equally gorgeous and unruly stallion Cayenne are the hit of the show, and all eyes are upon him. Kai isn’t quite sure how much he wants to capitalize on this or how, and the attention to him worries Attila. What can he offer Kai that’s this heady?

Where initially Kai was the uncertain one, in this story Attila has the graver doubts about his ability to keep Kai interested, and Kai’s more worried about being able to fit into horse-y society, given his coal-mining roots. He wants to do Attila proud and also protect him, which leads to some huge gaffes.

The story remains low key, as they two have to sort out how they fit together and what kind of accommodations they need to make to keep Attila functioning, all against the backdrop of the endless stable chores. When Attila’s beloved horse falls ill with no guarantees of recovery, it devastates him, and it’s all Kai can do to keep the stables going while Attila falls apart.

Here we spend more time in Attila’s head, seeing and hearing the world as he does, which made me think Asperger’s syndrome, something confirmed much later by reading the blurb to the first book. (I said I did this out of order! And that it didn’t create a problem.) Kai’s loving and helpful, and there to be a rock of support. He frets that he doesn’t know enough practical horse matters to really pull his weight, but time and experience will fix that, even though he needs it like, last week.

Attila also has the chance to bond with his brother in law Tibor as part of his coming to terms with what he perceives are his flaws. Attila’s family are vivid characters, his nephews especially are young men finding their true selves, and Kai’s acceptance into the family spans both books.

The winds and rain setting seemed to build up to the kind of action adventure we’re accustomed to from this author, but it’s more a nuisance in the background and reflector of Attila’s moods. The thrust of the story is definitely how Kai and Attila get past their insecurities. Given Attila’s need for structure and repetition, something that makes him extremely good with his horses, I was prepared to forgive the frequent “honey” and other endearments. (This usually drives me bonkers but it’s characterization for something other than twu lub. So maybe only a quarter bonkers this time.) Attila's voice has a quirky formality, which suggests both Eastern European roots and his need for precision and control. Kai's voice wobbles more, sometimes with a hint of his roots and more often as standard American, which seems like a wasted opportunity. His one full-out moment of going all Attila on someone's ass made me chuckle, as he used his lover's mannerisms to convey his Deepest Disapproval.

The arcs here were for Kai and his confidence, and for Attila and his confidence and coping. They learn and grow in themselves and each other. These two fit well together, and their H looks like it will be EA. 4 marbles

Breakfall by Kate Pavelle

Title: Breakfall
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Dreamspinner
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Marla Fanning
Genre: contemporary
Length: 270 pages, 84k
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

Sexual assault doesn't discriminate. Aikido instructor Sean Gallaway learns that when he falls prey to a violent stalker. Asbjorn Lund, a karate sensei on campus and a Navy vet, yearns to teach Sean how to survive. How to overcome. How to recover. Sean feels hunted and alone as the stalker escalates, testing his boundaries. With the entire dojo at his back, Sean resolves to play bait. He will catch the predator stalking him and reclaim his sense of self if it's the last thing he does. Yet Sean's hunger for justice clashes with Asbjorn's protective streak, and their budding romance might not survive their war of wills.


*~*~*~*

I admit starting this book with some trepidation, because of the sexual assault that is central to the plot of recovering trust in oneself, one's skills, and in others. I’ve read other work from this author and trusted her to carry me through difficult territory.

I am glad I read this book.


The two MCs are masters of different martial arts, and the differences in the forms’ philosophies are central to the conflict between the men, and the difficulties they have with each other and with events. Aikido, Sean’s discipline, promotes calm and defense, where Asbjorn’s karate and military background make the attack equally important. As he points out to Sean, you can’t expect the opponent to stay within your preferred style.

And unfortunately, the opponent doesn’t. Sean’s skills become the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight: it doesn’t matter how good he is at what he does. Here’s where I have to admit to skimming, because I could not read the assault scene all the way through, for my own peace of mind, but I stayed with the story and with Sean and his aftermath. He’s got severe struggles with doubt over his skills and the rightness of his philosophy, and it’s as if he’s having a religious crisis of faith. He’s followed all the rules, lived correctly, done the right things, learned the skills perfectly, and still this terrible thing happened. His constant rehash of what his sensei would think, what he would approve of or disapprove of, was like endless pacing of the tiger in the cage, no way out within the structure of the cage of discipline. If the tiger grew wings, the tiger could escape into the sky. Sean has to find his “wings”, the flexibility to learn skills not found in aikido, and the mental wherewithal to use them. I got the distinct feeling the sensei had never been confronted with a real enemy.

Asbjorn has, and doesn’t mind using any trick or tool in his more aggressive repertory to defend, and if needed, to attack. He’s a 4th dan black belt and still considers that sometimes the right move is calling in air support or dialing 911. He’s a rock for Sean, who isn’t at all used to being supported, and Asbjorn’s oddly virginal for someone this comfortable with his sexuality, though the reality of being in the military encouraged him to keep a lid on his activities. This sense of inexperience led to my raised eyebrow at an event toward the end of the book, even though it was a reasonable thing to try.

Sean’s planning to date sensei’s sister, giving the feeling that he’s interested in sensei but at one remove. After the attack, Sean feels safer in being with a partner who doesn’t need to be protected (though Sister would probably demonstrate a few swift kicks at that thought).That's my thought, not something the author said, but Sean's never had a male lover until now.

Sean and Asbjorn do a delicate dance of respecting autonomy, finding confidence, and catching the perp, complicated by idiotic remarks from third parties. Sean’s on the wrong end of a lot of cultural assumptions about what happened to him (including inside his own head), and he deals with it by finding his strength in various places, including in bed with Asbjorn, who respects his boundaries there. I found this perfectly believable. Asbjorn’s torn between wanting to protect, defend, support, and not smother, and if he doesn’t always do it well, he’s trying. It’s rugged going, and when it seems like he can’t make it work with Sean even on the level of basic courtesy, it’s a very dark moment.

The author gives us a very rich and detailed world, letting us feel the gym mats rubbed with the sweat from a thousand falls, the tang of the air over the Charles River in the early morning, and the rasp of body hair under a lover’s hands. The detail of the martial arts is probably at the level of oxygen to practitioners, although it’s more strong perfume to those of us who think the aikido trousers are really palazzo pants. The style is fluid enough to drag me through the forest of unfamiliar terms.

The ending has hope, sweetness, and the promise of another Sean and Asbjorn book that comes like a blow to the face. I can’t wait. 4 marbles

Keep looking down the blog post list, because our Thousand Word Thursday prompt has aikido masters sparring, and Kate's gifted us with an excerpt of her writing. If you didn't sign up for her giveaway there, here's another opportunity.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A picture is worth...

We have an aikido picture today, in honor of Kate Pavelle's book Breakfall. I was so interested in the martial arts that play such a big part of the story that I went looking. Don't forget to check the next post down for a brief excerpt from the book, and a rafflecopter link.

Breakfall by Kate Pavelle, excerpt and giveaway

Thanks for swinging by today: we're playing with Kate Pavelle, who sent us a snippet of her new novel, Breakfall. I've finished it and will be posting a review Saturday, and let me tell you, I had to keep turning the pages.

Read, enjoy, sign up on the Rafflecopter: you may win a copy, and if you don't, you'll still want one of your own. 

Sean and Asbjorn fight two different styles, have lived two different lives, and are brought together by some big orange gym mats. Of course, what's between them doesn't stay in the dojo. Here's a taste of them figuring each other out.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Sean didn’t know. He never tried it. Burrows-sensei disapproved of contamination by other martial arts.

“Contaminating aikido by other arts would make it too easy to resort to violence,” he said, repeating the word he heard so many times. “If you are defending yourself, and if your timing is right and you keep the principles in mind, all you have to do is trust the technique to work.”

The response to his rehearsed words was action. Strong arms on his biceps and hips against his hip.

Asbjorn pushed him roughly against the brick wall of the building next to them.

“Do something, Sean.” Asbjorn’s voice was calm.

Sean was pinned.

He curled his wrists in and attempted to raise his arms, but with his hips immobilized, it was impossible to use his whole body. He could not simply curl a man like Asbjorn. Frustrated, he stomped on Asbjorn’s foot.

Asbjorn smiled. “Sometimes, your style will be incompatible with the style of somebody else. You can also be smaller or physically weaker.”

The stubborn set of Sean’s jaw told Asbjorn he tried to resist the impending feeling of humiliation and defeat. Sean said, “You’re saying there’s nothing I can do.”

“No. I’m saying you have to learn a few dirty tricks.”

“I can’t use my hands.”

“You can use your head, though. I’m close enough for a head-butt. If you hit my nose with your forehead, I’ll let go right quick.”

Asbjorn loosened his grip on Sean’s arms and slid his large hands onto the rough surface by Sean’s head. He kept his hips pressed forward, his face buried in Sean’s hair, and seemed disinclined to move.

“Sean.” Asbjorn’s voice was but a whisper.

“What are you doing?”

There was a pause before Asbjorn broke the silence. “I’m wondering that myself.”


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Fall Trilogy: Book One

Sexual assault doesn't discriminate. Aikido instructor Sean Gallaway learns that when he falls prey to a violent stalker. Asbjorn Lund, a karate sensei on campus and a Navy vet, yearns to teach Sean how to survive. How to overcome. How to recover. Sean feels hunted and alone as the stalker escalates, testing his boundaries. With the entire dojo at his back, Sean resolves to play bait. He will catch the animal stalking him and reclaim his sense of self if it's the last thing he does. Yet Sean's hunger for justice clashes with Asbjorn's protective streak, and their budding romance might not survive their war of wills.


Get your copy at your favorite online book store:

Amazon, 

Barnes&Noble, 

KOBO, 
 

All Romance eBooks

Dreamspinner Press: 

That's a sure thing!  Try your luck here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just about everything Kate Pavelle writes is colored by her life experiences, whether the book in your hand is romance, mystery, or adventure. Kate grew up under a totalitarian regime behind the Iron Curtain. In her life, she has been a hungry refugee and a hopeful immigrant, a crime victim and a force of lawful vengeance, a humble employee and a business owner, an unemployed free-lancer and a corporate executive, a scientist and an artist, a storyteller volunteering for her local storytelling guild, a martial artist, and a triathlete. Kate’s frequent travels imbue her stories with local color from places both exotic and mundane.

Kate Pavelle is encouraged in her writing by her husband, children and pets, and tries not to kill her extensive garden in her free time. Out of the five and a half languages she speaks, English is her favorite comfort zone.
~*~*~*~

Thank you, Kate, and visitors, you'll get my full opinion on the book a little later this week on my regular review day. Hint:  I enjoyed it.

Relativistic Phenomena by Kate Pavelle

Title: Relativistic Phenomena
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at All Romance eBooks

Genre: contemporary
Length: 18500 words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print (hey, nice!)

Grounded by a hurricane, Tony passes time playing chess and flirting with “Ken,” a pierced punk kid. Restless, he needs to make the quantum physics symposium in New York, where making an impression on the reclusive Dr. Ikeda could mean a post-doc research position. What are the odds?

Nineteen-year old Dr. Kenichi Ikeda, alone out of Japan for the first time, gets hustled in a game of chess by the ingenious and handsome Tony. Coincidence and fate brings them together – but the reclusive prodigy is torn: should he hire Tony because of their undeniable mutual attraction, or despite it?


Review:

It’s always fun when the reader knows something the character doesn’t. Then the joy of the story is the attempt to steer the character—no, don’t go into the cellar while spooky music’s playing! Or – no! that's really not what it appears! And of course, the character does what he’s been put on the page to do, leaving the reader laughing, exclaiming, sometimes facepalming, but very involved in the story.


Kate Pavelle let Tony loose with all his preconceived notions, and let him walk into a metaphorical door or two. Fortunately his “injuries” are mild enough to recover from, but he’ll be a better scientist from here on, always checking his assumptions. He was a sweet guy, kind to a young man he perceived as a flighty nuisance, even if he was sexy and played some mean chess. Kenichi holds more cards, and isn’t exactly sure how to play his hand. The interplay between the two of them and the various mistakes Tony made was delightful to read. Including high-level science and its practical implications was a nice touch.

Kenichi as prodigy is a bit hard to swallow, but he's so adorable that I just set aside all the Doogie Houser thoughts and watched him go in social matters where he had no expertise.  

Where I hung up on this story—anything that inspires me to stop reading and start counting is a big bounce out. Tony’s insistence on thinking of Kenichi as a punk kid became both a repetitive issue and a character issue—if that’s the only way he thinks of Kenichi, it’s dull for the reader and makes Tony seem like a complete and total unredeemable jerk. Which he’s really not, but that’s the effect of finding “punk” in a novelette 30 times and yes I counted. By the third use I was tapping my fingers and by the 7th I was done with Tony—he’s not that much older than Kenichi and how the hell did he get off being so judgmental? Then I counted, redirected my wrath at the author for some lazy writing, and finished the story, which I almost didn’t do.

I’m glad I did, because even with the total stretch of “no CV for a noted scientist” to explain part of the mixup, it was a well written (with the exception of the one issue) and delightful read of mistaken identities and future happiness. Even with a 1 marble problem that didn’t need to be there, the story is still a 3.

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

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.