Patricia is one of the most avid readers around. She knows the power of a story. And she let me post some of her reviews here. (I don't think I could ever post fast enough to keep up with her!)
So, thank you, Patricia, for sharing your opinions.
Showing posts with label Keira Andrews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keira Andrews. Show all posts
Friday, December 23, 2016
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Semper Fi by Keira Andrews, Guest review
Author: Keira Andrews
Cover Artist: Dar Albert
Buy at Amazon
Buy at All Romance e Books
Genre: historical, military
Length: 95,000 words
As Marines, Cal and Jim depended on each other to survive bloodshed and despair in the Pacific. Relieved to put the horrors of war behind him, Jim went home to his apple orchard and a quiet life with his wife and children. Knowing Jim could never return his forbidden feelings, Cal hoped time and an ocean between them would dull the yearning for his best friend.
But when Jim's wife dies, Cal returns to help. He doesn't know a thing about apple farming--or children--but he's determined to be there for Jim, even as the painful torch he carries blazes back to life. Jim is grateful for his friend's support as he struggles with buried emotions and dark wartime memories. Then Jim begins to see Cal in a new light, and their relationship deepens in ways neither expected. Can they build a life together as a family and find happiness in a world that would condemn them?
Note: This m/m romance contains scenes of violence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keira Andrews has written a beautiful, bittersweet, intensely personal, and gripping tale about two friends' experiences during WW2, the lasting effects after the war was over, and the painful, heartbreaking, obstacle filled journey to find a love they had to keep secret. I was hooked from page one, and I can definitely say this is a book I will read over and over again.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
A Forbidden Rumspringa by Keira Andrews
Author: Keira Andrews
Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Dar Albert
Genre: Amish, contemporary
Length: 76,000 words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print
When two young Amish men find love, will they risk losing everything?
In a world where every detail of life—down to the width of a hat brim—is dictated by God and the all-powerful rules of the community, two men dare to imagine a different way. At 18, Isaac Byler knows little outside the strict Amish settlement of Zebulon, Minnesota, where there is no rumspringa for exploration beyond the boundaries of their insular world. Isaac knows he’ll have to officially join the church and find a wife before too long, but he yearns for something else—something he can’t name.
Dark tragedy has left carpenter David Lantz alone to support his mother and sisters, and he can’t put off joining the church any longer. But when he takes on Isaac as an apprentice, their attraction grows amid the sweat and sawdust. David shares his sinful secrets, and he and Isaac struggle to reconcile their shocking desires with their commitment to faith, family and community.
Now that they’ve found each other, are they willing to lose it all?
Note: Contains explicit sexual situations and graphic language. This is not an inspirational/Christian romance.
When two young men fall for each other in an atmosphere as circumscribed as the Amish town of Zebulon, there’s only a few branches on the decision tree if there’s going to be an HEA. So everything rides on the style and the details.
Keira Andrews gives us a book that flows, in plain language that fits the community that Isaac and David belong to. This offshoot of a larger group is struggling to make ends meet in a new place, with less interaction with the outside, and tighter rules than ever before. Where these young people had expected to have a time of freedom and tasting the “English” way of life, now, no such chance exists. As for joining the church under these circumstances—it doesn’t feel like a choice. The families that emigrated to found Zebulon all seem to be touched by tragedy brought by the young people experimenting, and therefore, no one shall experiment again: it’s too dangerous.
But the young will test their boundaries, and some cannot fit within the narrow confines.
Finding out the details of why strict went to straightjacket took long enough to make me impatient, because a life that strict seemed one step away from hell to me, and there had to be a reason why putatively sane people would do this to themselves and their children. When even an orange safety reflector on the back of the buggy is too worldly, there has to be a reason. It was a while coming.
Not for Isaac and David to question why, though, they’re young, not yet “following church” or slipping into the life path expected of them. Isaac eyes David’s sister with fear—she’d make him a fine, hard-working wife, and if people pushed them together any harder there’d be bruises. Meanwhile, down in the barn, David and Isaac make more than furniture.
The two of them dance around the growing attraction as long as possible, but once they acknowledge the heat between them, they can’t keep their hands off each other. There were a lot of sex scenes which mostly drove the plot, but no sense of fumbling or inexperience, and I really don’t believe one raunchy magazine read by David long ago was enough to make them as adventurous or skilled as they were.
The author put a lot of effort into understanding the culture she writes about, and the respect is clear and unjudgmental, even where I as reader judge more harshly. (“God gave us brains, it’s an insult not to use them” is a hard attitude to put aside.) The sense of following the Ordnung, the religious directions, as a way of life is strong, though for David and Isaac, the sense of religion as faith is almost absent. Thinking for one’s self is anathema, and difficult for the young men to do.
The author tackled a tough situation with few options, writing with skill and dignity. It may be that I’m not able to see exactly how much because of what I bring to the reading experience.
Still: 4.5 marbles
In a separate but related note, the ebook is very prettily put together, with lovely chapter headers and buggy dingbats.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Earthly Desires by Leta Blake and Keira Andrews
Earthly Desires by Leta Blake and Keira Andrews Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Genre: GLBT, Paranormal
Length: 92 pages
Cursed as an infant with a lack of physical and emotional gravity, Prince Efrosin can’t keep his feet on the ground or his head out of the clouds. Laughing his way through life, he’s never been weighed down by love and lust.
Then one fateful day, his tenuous tie to the earth is severed and he blows away on the wind. He’s rescued by Dmitri, a handsome young woodsman who suffers from a mysterious curse of his own, and the two strangers are irresistibly drawn together. Experiencing sex and love for the first time, they dive into a delightfully sensual and passionate affair.
But the evil witch who cursed them is planning her ultimate revenge. Efrosin and Dmitri must fight to find their fairy tale ending and live happily ever after.
Cryselle’s Review:
You know you’re in land of magic and strange happenings from the very first sentence of Keira Andrews and Leta Blake’s Earthly Desires.
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom at the edge of what was and what could never be. At the center of this kingdom was a castle, and within this castle was a king. Inside this king was a terribly selfish heart.
The king actually has very little to do with the rest of the story—we’re far more concerned with his son, Prince Efrosin, whose lack of gravity and gravitas has him unacquainted with walking on the ground or with deeper emotions. Growing up unable to feel more than amusement or a sort of gleeful terror, he’s missing out on most of the human experience. He has to remind himself that other people react differently than he does, a lesson drummed into him over and over by his faithful servant Geoffry.
Ever in danger of floating away, Prince Efrosin does sail away on a puff of wind when he turns eighteen, and fetches up in a tree on Dmitri’s land. The complete opposite of Efrosin, Dmitri has been weighted down by too much responsibility and is astonished by this hot young man who laughs at everything. They become lovers, and become a bit more like each other. Efrosin could never become a good king without empathy, and until he has a reason to stop laughing, he’ll never learn it.
There are sweet moments, hot moments, terrifying moments, and a highly satisfying ending for the young men. The explanation for why each of them was cursed is a bit muddled, taking elements from a good half dozen stories and combining them into an evil excess, but gives the pair something to triumph over.
The story is sweet and cute, but not entirely focused; even steady Dmitri can’t seem to care about time when the lives of children are at stake. Still, evil threatens and good must try to vanquish it, even at great cost, and even the curses of the wicked might be averted if one’s heart is pure.
This was a charming light read, and if you’re in a fairy tale + hot sex mood, Earthly Desires might be exactly what you’re looking for. 3.5 marbles
Sunday, August 12, 2012
A Thousand Word Thursday Story by Leta Blake
Jumping In With Both Feet
Hanson has never liked the water. When he was a kid, Jarod, his jerk of a big brother, used to throw him in the deep end to watch him flail for fun, before jumping in to rescue him. Hanson still remembers the burn of water in his lungs, the terror that this time his brother might wait too long.
It’d been bad enough that when Hanson’s little niece and nephew were born, he’d worried that Jarod might think it was a funny joke to play on them, too. But age (or his sister-in-law) has thankfully dulled his brother’s sadistic streak.
Unfortunately, time had never taken the edge off Hanson’s fear of the water. Which is why it was noteworthy that he was currently in a row boat with his boyfriend, Marshall, and he’s not entirely sure why he’s not wearing a life vest. He supposes, should he fall in, he trusts Marshall to be faster to jump in and save him than Jarod ever was. Even so, he’s careful not to rock the boat.
“Juniper Lake,” Marshall says, rowing them farther from shore. The summers spent here at Jew Camp, as Marshall calls his family’s summer program for urban Jewish kids, have given him an ease with boats. “A misnomer since there aren’t many junipers around at all. It’s all maples and oaks. One of my favorite things in the world is rowing to the middle of the lake at the height of autumn. It’s surreally beautiful.”
“Okay,” Hanson says, his eyes drawn to the shimmer of light in Marshall’s blond hair. “Sure. If you say so.”
Marshall’s eyes soften. “I’m going to teach you to swim next summer.”
“And I’m going to sprout wings and fly shortly after that.”
“You’ll master the water and the sky with me at your side.”
The water splashes gently with each sweep of the oars. Hanson smiles despite himself. That’s something he loves about Marshall--he never tells Hanson to stop being sarcastic or dramatic. No, Marshall just takes him as he is.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you’re torturing me like this?”
Marshall grins. “Come on. Don’t you trust me with your life?”
“Clearly, I do. I thought that was evident enough the time I let you talk me into riding that roller coaster at Six Flags.”
“Yeah, but you’re only mildly afraid of roller coasters. You’re terrified of water.”
“And?”
Marshall blows a soft breath out and slows his rowing. “I wanted to show you something.”
“Okay. I’ve witnessed that you’ve got strong arms for rowing across liquid death. Are we done?”
Marshall lets the oars drop and shrugs. “No, I wanted you to see the world from the middle of the lake. And I wanted to prove something to you—that we’re better, stronger together. That not even your biggest fear is anything compared to the power of us.”
“I…you’re…uh….” Hanson’s heart fluttered in his throat. “You’re being weird.”
“Because, the thing is...” Marshall leans forward, his head tilted and his eyes warm with affection. “The thing is, Hanson...I love you and I want you to marry me. Like for real. This isn’t a joke. I want you to marry me.”
“Whoa.” Hanson feels like he might start to cry, and he hasn’t done that since he was fifteen and his best friend dumped him when he’d come out.
Marshall puts his hands on Hanson’s face and neck. They are strong and callused, and Hanson leans forward to grip Marshall’s knees.
Hanson’s throat is dry but he manages to rasp out a joke. “You're asking me here? You do realize the implication is if I say no, you’re going to shove me out?”
Marshall laughs and shakes his head, leaning forward and brushes his lips against Hanson’s softly. “You know I’d never shove you out or you wouldn’t be out here with me, and you know I want to take care of you forever, and you can trust me with every last thing you’re afraid of, because I love you more than anything, and I’d never let you down. And I trust you with all of me, too. That’s what’s amazing about us. So...will you? Will you marry me?”
Hanson feels a crazy urge to scream, “Yes!” and throw himself overboard. It seems like the easiest way to show Marshall how much he truly does trust and love him. Instead, he leans forward and presses his forehead to Marshall’s, gazing into his blue eyes, and whispers, “Yeah. Let’s get married.”
Marshall looks like he might cry, but kisses him instead.
Later, Hanson watches Marshall row confidently through the water, all remaining anxiety lifting from his chest as the shoreline comes closer. “So...wedding next summer here at the camp?”
“Yeah,” Marshall says. “That’d make my dad really happy, and it’s really a great place. We could have the campers be, like, our wedding chorus or something.”
“They’d sing ‘Kumbaya’?”
“Uh, no. It’s Jew Camp, idiot.”
“Right. So, ‘The Dreidel Song’.”
“I’m about to not marry you,” Marshall said, laughing under his breath.
“And then after the wedding, you can toss me in the lake and teach me to swim.”
“How about we toss Jarod in the lake instead? Together?”
Hanson grins. “Deal.”
As the row boat scrapes against the shoreline, Marshall leans forward, grips Hanson’s hair, and kisses him again. “I love you so much. Me and you? We’re gonna conquer the world.”
“Or my fear of water.”
“Same thing.”
******************************************
Snfff, love that! Thank you, Leta!
Leta Blake and Keira Andrews have a new book out: Earthly Desires.
Part of the Tempting Tales series.
Cursed as an infant with a lack of physical and emotional gravity, Prince Efrosin can’t keep his feet on the ground or his head out of the clouds. Laughing his way through life, he’s never been weighed down by love and lust.
Then one fateful day, his tenuous tie to the earth is severed and he blows away on the wind. He’s rescued by Dmitri, a handsome young woodsman who suffers from a mysterious curse of his own, and the two strangers are irresistibly drawn together. Experiencing sex and love for the first time, they dive into a delightfully sensual and passionate affair.
But the evil witch who cursed them is planning her ultimate revenge. Efrosin and Dmitri must fight to find their fairy tale ending and live happily ever after.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Places Leta can be found around the web:
Email: leta.blake.author@gmail.com
Website:letablake.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/letablake
Twitter:https://twitter.com/letablake
Tumblr: http://letablake.tumblr.com/
Places Keira can be found around the web:
Email: keira.andrews@gmail.com
Website: keiraandrews.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/keiraandrews
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/keira.andrews.50
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)