Slam! by JL Merrow

Title: Slam!
Author: JL Merrow
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Publisher: Samhain
Buy Links: Publisher, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 275 pdf pages


Limericks, lies, and puppy-dog eyes…

Jude Biggerstaff is all the way out and loving it—mostly. The Anglo-Japanese university graduate is a carnivore working in a vegan café, an amateur poet with only one man in his life. His dog, Bubbles.
Then there’s “Karate Crumpet”, a man who regularly runs past the café with a martial arts class. Jude can only yearn from afar, until the object of his affection rescues him from muggers. And he learns that not only does this calm, competent hunk of muscle have a name—David—but that he’s gay.

Jude should have known the universe wouldn’t simply let love fall into place. First, David has only one foot out of the closet. Then there’s Jude’s mother, who lies about her age to the point Jude could be mistaken for jailbait.

With a maze of stories to keep straight, a potential stepfather in the picture, ex-boyfriends who keep spoiling his dates with David, and a friend with a dangerous secret, Jude is beginning to wonder if his and David’s lives will ever start to rhyme.

Warnings: Contains a tangled web of little white lies, a smorgasbord of cheesy limericks, a violin called Vanessa, some boots that mean business, and the most adorable little dog ever. Poetry, it’s not...

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After that blurb, the question isn’t what happens, it’s how. And it’s fun.

Stream of consciousness barely contained, that’s Jude. He’s flamboyant, funny, and when he bleeds internally, he bandages it with another joke. He’s head over heels for David, but what doesn’t go strange in one way goes strange in another. JL Merrow has “frequently been accused of humor” and this story earns her the shaky finger again, in the best way.


Opposites—Jude looks like Gok Wan, only prettier and gayer, and David’s so butch Jude’s not sure he’s gay—the man hasn’t seen a musical in years, and likes watching football. David’s got reason—he works construction in the management end of the business, but he’s not out at work and doesn’t plan to be any time soon. We don’t have any scenes from his POV, but that’s okay, Jude can rattle along for three.

Emitting limericks at irregular intervals to express his anxiety or frustration, Jude keeps us smiling, even when we’d like to whap him for withholding pertinent information from David. Granted, it seems rational at the time, but it does create a sequence of Big Misunderstandings. I can’t summarize better than this brief sequence, where Jude and David have gone on their first real date. Rescuing Jude from some gay-bashers isn’t exactly social life after all.

He shrugged. “I’ve never really been into gay bars. I’d rather go to a normal pub. Uh, does that come off as a bit homophobic?”

I swallowed my last mouthful of saltimbocca. “Yeah, but I’ll let you off because (a) you’re gorgeous and (b) I think my mouth just had an orgasm.” Dreamily, I put down my fork. “Although on second thoughts, that’s not a great mental picture when you’ve just eaten. We have got to come here again.”

“If you like. I’m still hoping to persuade you to try the raw fish at TTY.”

Oops. That again. I bit my lip. Should I come clean and tell him it was all to do with Stinky Cheese Guy?

He’d understand, and then we could have a laugh about it…

I grimaced. Yeah, right. Because it’s always so attractive, finding the guy you’re out with is still hung up on his Evil Ex.

David laughed. “Why do I get the impression I just missed a whole conversation taking place in your head?”

That last sentence—really important.

The supporting characters shore everything up nicely: best gal pal Keisha keeps Jude grounded and provides a sharp foil for his wit, and Mom is a hoot. Mom has a younger boyfriend and a couple of secrets, which slop onto Jude and incidentally demonstrate that he comes by his talent for complications honestly.

In fact, everyone seems to have some way to affect everyone else, and it’s to the author’s credit that this crazy quilt of plot points winds up so neatly. Secrets and confessions fall out of the closet like improperly stored skeletons, and it all winds up as a big AW! in several directions, in spite of the epidemic of foot-in-mouth disease.

The title applies to Jude’s participation in slam poetry fests, where poets recite their work as performance art and are graded by how they affect their audiences. It’s not a huge plot aspect unless it’s needed—this story is more character driven than plot driven, aside from the eventual boy-gets-boy. The limericks are spice rather than meal. I’m very partial to external plot, of which this is rather short: the external elements are subservient to the relationship, and the title theme is nearly invisible for most of the book.

All in all, this is a sweet feel-good-eventually of a story. The Brit flavor is undiluted, not impenetrable to American readers, and is a wonderful antidote to stories where the English charm has been genericized away. If you’re in the mood for flamboyant, funny, British characters and situations, this is the story for you.4.25 marbles

Hard Tail by JL Merrow

Title: Hard Tail
Author: JL Merrow
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Publisher: Samhain
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 259
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Finding love can be a bumpy ride.

His job: downsized out of existence. His marriage: on the rocks. It doesn’t take a lot of arm twisting for Tim Knight to agree to get out of London and take over his injured brother’s mountain bike shop for a while. A few weeks in Southampton is a welcome break from the wreck his life has become, even though he feels like a fish out of water in this brave new world of outdoor sports and unfamiliar technical jargon.

The young man who falls—literally—through the door of the shop brings everything into sharp, unexpected focus. Tim barely accepts he’s even in the closet until his attraction to Matt Berridge pulls him close enough to touch the doorknob.

There’s only one problem with the loveable klutz: his bullying boyfriend. Tim is convinced Steve is the cause of the bruises that Matt blows off as part of his risky sport. But rising to the defense of the man he’s beginning to love means coming to terms with who he is—in public—in a battle not even his black belt prepared him to fight. Until now.

Warning: Contains an out-and-proud klutz, a closeted, karate-loving accountant—and a cat who thinks it’s all about him. Watch for a cameo appearance from the Pricks and Pragmatism lovers. May inspire yearnings for fresh air, exercise, and a fit, tanned bike mechanic of your very own.

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For every door that closes, another door opens. For Tim, the dissolution of his marriage and the evaporation of his job let him step back from the cookie cutter corporate “happiness” that his life has become. Redundant at a job that he was good at but didn’t love, and redundant too in a marriage that was peaceful but not passionate, Tim has a chance to find out what he really wants.

Much to his surprise, it’s Matt, the klutzy bike mechanic at the shop Tim is managing temporarily while the owner, his brother Jay, is laid up with injuries. The longings sneak up when Tim isn’t looking—he never really questioned his orientation, and then denied it, and now, because of the irrefutable evidence, has to examine it.

JL Merrow unrolls Tim’s story with her trademark humor—Tim pokes gentle fun at himself even while he’s pondering a complete remake of his life and his perceptions of himself. Assisted in the chuckle department by a demanding feline he dubs Wolverine, Tim examines some difficult issues without devolving into total angst. When his newfound friends in Eling encourage him to live a little, Tim finds himself falling out of the closet like an improperly stored skeleton. It’s sweet, and if his experiments with Adam aren’t destined to be more than a few nights of groping, they do at least convince Tim that he’s on the right course at last.

Matt has to find a new path, too. Much of what he endures we see only in his demeanor and condition after the fact—he’d rather blame every black eye and bruise on cycling accidents than admit more than that his boyfriend is a trifle controlling. The clues add up to bad things happening. Finally asserting his right to being treated with respect turns Matt into a single man, but one on the run, and it makes sense that he turns to Tim, who has a roof to share and nothing but kind words.

Much of the action is low key, as Tim ponders what to do with himself in all ways, especially regarding Matt, whom he regards as off limits as long as he remains with the terrible lover. Tim feeds the cat, learns the joy of cycling, and sheds a marriage like a snakeskin. His relationship with his family gets some good long looks too, and part of this fell apart for me. Tim has always been the overshadowed child, doing well but getting far less attention or credit than the flamboyant brother, who manages to turn Tim’s big revelation into something that’s all about him. Funny in a way, but the response from the family didn’t make sense, given the entire rest of the dynamic.

Once Matt is no longer off limits, he and Tim can be together, and they get together with a thump as audible as when Matt trips through doorways. The speed is understandable but still a little offputting, since Matt has about 20 milliseconds between good-bye ex, hello forever love. Still, we readers know he’s far better off in Tim’s gentle hands, and forgive most of the warp speed.

And Wolverine? He surely owns both Tim and Matt.

4.25 marbles

Handle With Care by Josephine Myles

Title Handle With Care
Author Josephine Myles
Publisher Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 191 pages

The best things in life aren’t free…they’re freely given.

Ben Lethbridge doesn’t have many vices left. After raising his little sister to adulthood, he wasted no time making up for the youth he lost to responsible parenting. Two years of partying it up—and ignoring his diabetes—has left him tethered to a home dialysis regimen.

He can do his job from his flat, fortunately, but most of his favourite things are forbidden. Except for DVD porn…and fantasizing over Ollie, the gorgeous, purple-haired skateboarder who delivers it.

Their banter is the highlight of Ben’s lonely day, but his illness-ravaged body is the cruel reality that prevents him from believing they’ll do anything more than flirt. Not to mention the age gap. Still, Ben figures there’s no harm in sprucing himself up a bit.

Then one day, a package accidentally splits open, revealing Ben’s dirty little secret…and an unexpected connection that leaves him wondering if he’s been reading Ollie wrong all this time. There’s only one way to find out: risk showing Ollie every last scar. And hope “far from perfect” is good enough for a chance at love.


Product Warnings: Contains superhero porn comics and a cute, accident-prone delivery guy with colour-changing hair. Readers may experience coffee cravings, an unexpected liking for bad mullets, and the urge to wrap Ollie up and take him home.

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Josephine Myles is an autobuy author for me, and once again she has demonstrated why. Her latest novel, Handle With Care delicately explores a budding relationship between a thirty-three year old kidney patient and the much younger parcel delivery man who brings the his nearly daily fixes of porn.


Ben Lethbridge has paid for his excesses with his health—a diabetic and already at risk for problems, he took a few too many chances. Now he has to schedule his life around the bottles of dialysis solution that slosh around his abdomen, keeping him alive. He’s in the horrible position of waiting for a kidney transplant, knowing that it means a tragedy for someone else.

Ollie shows up with packages every day or two—Ben buys a lot of porn to make up for the sex he doesn’t get any more. Between his chronic condition and his guilt, he’s so not in the market for a relationship that both Ollie and his sister have to bat him over the head to get Ben to realize Ollie’s interested.

Ollie’s a bundle of contradictions, both bold enough to go for what he wants and insecure enough to believe that his role is only to serve. He barely knows what a healthy relationship between equals looks like, and he needs a little guidance to find it, not that Ben’s such an expert. Together they bumble into something that works for them. Both of these men have some big issues, and very-manlike, they don’t talk until the relationship landmines have already gone off, and sometimes not even then. Ben’s health throws more spanners in the works—surgery for a new kidney keeps him from being able to have sex for a long time, which at least allows them to get to know each other.

Both men have some real and serious issues that are revealed only gradually—it’s hard for Ben to know how he’s put his foot in his mouth because he knows so little about Ollie at first. Certain things really offend him, but Ben doesn’t know why, and it doesn’t help that Ollie’s first reaction is to run away rather than fight. Both characters have their prickles, but there is a happy ending for them. The final clearing of the air brings some closure to a number of issues in Ben and Ollie’s past, and you just know they’ll make it.

Ben’s sister Zoe had significant face time—Ben raised her after their parents died, and the relationship between them is extremely important to the story. She’s both urging Ben to take a good long look at Ollie and then distressed by the relationship when he does. Some beautifully drawn doubts and fears there—she grows as much as Ollie and Ben do.

Josephine Myles’ language is British without drowning in slang, so the book has definite flavor of place, and her storytelling unrolls the men’s secrets with nice pacing. The one problem I had was that the conflict relied on Ollie refusing to talk about things as much as that Ben and Ollie simply don’t know each other and can find all the sore spots by accident. It’s not a Big Misunderstanding, but there is a series of Medium Misunderstandings that each could scuttle the relationship. Between Ben being oblivious and Ollie being less than forthcoming, they have a lot of opportunities to vex each other.

Living with a chronic health problem and its effect on finding love has been done, but not often done this well—Ben’s renal failure is deep characterization and not a surface gloss. He can do little, even starting a porn movie, without considering what part of his treatment cycle he’s in. We don’t see Ollie as clearly—so much of Ben’s attention is focused inward while just trying to stay alive, which both makes sense and feels like a gap. Ollie is adorable and definitely needs big squishy hugs. Ben had better provide them or he’ll hear from at least one reader with a big stick!
4.5 marbles

Last Stop by Lou Harper

Title: Last Stop
Author: Lou Harper
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Publisher: Samhain
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 211 pages

When love drifts into his life, danger isn’t far behind.

Sam Mayne’s life is as dull as the dishwater in his small-town Montana diner, and that’s just how he wants it. Quiet, uneventful, safe from his shadowy past. The breezy young drifter who answers his help-wanted ad makes him uneasy in ways he dare not examine too closely. Except he can’t help but be pulled in by Jay Colby’s spunky attitude, endless stories, and undeniable sex appeal.

Fresh off yet another romantic disaster, Jay doesn’t understand his attraction to the taciturn line cook, but there’s no fighting the chemistry that lands them in bed together. Where Sam’s subtly dominant streak takes command, and Jay delights in discovering the pleasures of his submissive side.

Safe in the assumption their relationship is temporary, neither lover holds back when the heat is on. Until Sam’s deadly past catches up with them with a vengeance, forcing him to drop the life he’s built, pick up his lover, and run. As danger cuts closer to the bone, Sam and Jay are forced to face the truth. About themselves, about the depth of their love—and the newly forged bonds that are about to be tested to the limit.
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Product Warnings
Contains enough sparks to ignite a sexual fire, ably fanned by the judicious use of some interesting props, as well as some butt-warming spanking. Sizzzzle.

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Jay Colby drifts around, finding work and sex partners here and there as his needs dictate, and those needs aren’t always sexual. A sugar daddy, good for two nights or two years, is okay by him, and when he finds himself on the steps of a diner in Mini-town, Montana, he’ll sling hash and lay his boss with equal enthusiasm.


Sam has his reasons for not wanting a real relationship, but finds himself drawn in by Jay’s enthusiasm behind the counter and in bed. He likes that Jay’s willing to take orders, and their sex starts off with a few commands. It progresses to spankings and some light bondage, and everyone is having a good time. Some scenes, like the wax play, are going to be more entertaining for others than for me, but the sex scenes have a lot of variety. A little something for everyone here—there are a lot of sex scenes, three large ones plus tidbits in the first 55 pages alone.

Sam and Jay explore each other, but the end of the good times looms in the ominous conversations between other parties. Each chapter has a brief exchange hinting doom for someone. Sam’s pissed a mobster off in a big way, and his days of hiding in nowhereville are numbered. He’s not too worried for himself, and he’ll just shoo Jay off like the stray he is, to find the rest of his life with someone else. Until he finds he cares, and then he’s got to get Jay out of the line of fire, even if he doesn’t want to go.

I enjoyed the beginning of this, as two unlikely partners came together, although my degree of investment in their happiness was limited. I think the style kept me at a distance—there were very few forays deep into someone’s head. For the most part, it felt like surface interactions. Deep pounding into someone’s ass isn’t the same as deep involvement in his life.

Most of the interesting things in both Sam and Jay’s life happened in the past, and while they tell each other the stories, it’s just that, reporting the past. It’s necessary background for both of them, explaining why Sam’s on the run and that Jay’s got a reflex for revenge aimed at vulnerable points, but it’s all anecdotes told by one to the other, and not as engaging as it could be. Even Jay’s recounting of his slutty adventures feels distant, although it turns Sam on.

The middle of the story bogged down extensively in a protracted road trip—running from the Mob is not always as exciting as it’s made out to be. Fortunately, they come to a safe haven and start to settle in a bit, with jobs and new identities, though their pursuers are closing in.

When the mobsters finally catch up to them, I was stunned to discover that I’m much bloodthirstier than an ex-mob enforcer—what I thought he’d do wasn’t anywhere close to what he did do, but Sam’s supposed to be a moderately good guy now, and he does care deeply for Jay in a way he never expected to. Part of Sam’s planning struck me as excessively dependent on luck, the dumbness of his opponents, and an ally who hadn’t been entirely reliable. We do have an opportunity to see how Jay and Sam can function as a team, providing the best demonstration that they can make it as a couple. The climactic scene relies on elements of Jay and Sam’s sex life in both helpful ways and in creating problems, a nice twist.

I thought the premise here was solid, if familiar, with some novel plot points. The execution didn’t quite match the ideas, leaving a feeling of distance between the reader and the characters—the most emotionally engaging moment outside of the sex scenes involved Jay and a koi pond, which is probably not the reaction intended. The sex is hot and plentiful—the author describes it at BDSM-lite, and not so overwhelming as to put off a non-BDSM reader like myself, so it may be a very good choice for a reader looking to expand horizons in that direction. 3.25 Marbles

The Rebuilding Year by Kaje Harper

Title: The Rebuilding Year
Author: Kaje Harper
Cover Artist: Angela Waters
Publisher: Samhain
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 298 pages



Losing nearly everything leaves room for the one thing they can’t live without.

A few excruciating minutes pinned in a burning building cost Ryan Ward his job as a firefighter, the easy camaraderie of his coworkers, his girlfriend, and damn near cost him his left leg. Giving up, though, isn’t an option. Compared to the alternative, choosing a new profession, going back to school, and renting a room from the college groundskeeper are simple.

Until he realizes he’s falling in love with his housemate, and things take a turn for the complicated.

John Barrett knows about loss. After moving twice to stay in touch with his kids, he could only watch as his ex-wife whisked them away to California. Offering Ryan a room seems better than rattling around the empty house, but as casual friendship moves to something more, and a firestorm of emotions ignites, the big old house feels like tight quarters.

It’s nothing they can’t learn to navigate, though. But when dead bodies start turning up on campus—and one of the guys is a suspect—their first taste of real love could go up in smoke.

Product Warnings

Contains two hot men wrestling with a shift in their sexuality, as well as a few positions probably listed in the Gay Kama Sutra. But it’s not all about the hot and sweaty—especially when your previously straight life knocks on the door and comes back to visit.

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Given the astonishing amount of baggage the protagonists have to carry, Kaje Harper has done a superior job of presenting just the right amount of seriousness leavened with humor. Both Ryan and John are in the middle of redefining their lives when they meet, and manage to come together as part of it.


Ryan’s life has been totally disrupted by the fire that dropped a burning beam on him, trapping and nearly killing him. Missing big chunks out of his leg, and lucky to have what’s left, Ryan has gone back to his original dream, put on hold after a disaster changed his family and his focus. Instead of firefighting and rescues, he’s in medical school, having no trouble with the academics, although the social aspects are provoking, since he’s noticeably older and far more world-weary than his classmates. While he’s played with his share of shallow but willing women, he’s beyond that now and doesn’t want to listen to the nightly exploits of his roommate.

John has spent his entire adult life being a family man: married at eighteen to his pregnant girlfriend, he’s now trying to be a good father to his two children even after the divorce and his ex’s remarriage. It’s not easy either, when teenagers aren’t very talkative and the ex finds endless barriers to put between them.

It suits both men to have Ryan move in; they’ve become friends and expect to get along all right sharing a big house. Becoming lovers is absolutely not on the radar, although acting as each other’s wingman could be. It isn’t until a moment of shared pain leads to a kiss that they touch one another, and then I had to giggle as they sprang apart with EEEEEEH! We’re not gay! They have to find their way back to comfortable friendship, but do go on to become lovers in a thoughtful but not over-angsty way. This new facet of their sexualities doesn’t sit well with either of them at first, and they have to grope their way to understanding themselves.

While John and Ryan are learning to accept their desire for each other, John’s troubled teenaged son appears on the doorstep needing refuge. He’s a good kid but beaten down by his step-father’s assumptions and demands. Of course Marcus presents a major complication to them, though it never becomes a showdown for John to have to choose between his lover and his child.

There’s a mystery wending through the background. Some of the clues seem only marginally connected, but the author plays fair; it was all there to see once I took a second look. When Marcus gets caught in the grand finale, it does seem like an overreaction on the part of the villain, but it’s still heart-stopping for the reader.

Many things about this story are beautifully done: the organic development of John and Ryan’s relationship, touched but not soaked with introspection on both their parts, and the beginnings of the blending of a family. Ryan has a lovely relationship with John’s kids, part older brother and part second father, and you know he’s going to be an important part of their lives. The mystery wound through the novel, in places so subtly as to be nearly invisible, but still present. The climax of the story could not have unfolded without tragedy if Ryan had a different skill set or John trusted him less, so very well done.

The timeline seemed a bit awkward to me – while this was truly a rebuilding year for Ryan, whose life had been totally decimated in the fire, the actual time for healing, rehab, and getting into med school seemed truncated, but more doable if I didn’t think about it too hard. It also seemed very quick from “yes, I’m going to kiss him again” to “I love him” but given the friendship, that too is doable. John’s shotgun marriage as a teen seemed like a relic of another time, but I could believe he really loved her, too.

The secondary characters varied in their portrayals. Marcus was extremely vivid as a conflicted fifteen year old who had to cope with the revelation of his father’s new sexual identity on top of everything else. His sister Torey and the detective were also well developed given the size of their roles. The harpy ex and her overbearing new husband mouthed the expected lines and offered no surprises.

I enjoyed The Rebuilding Year greatly and read it at one sitting, going back later to collect details for reviewing. Kaje Harper tells a very smooth story, and I would recommend this book warmly. 4.5 marbles

The Psychic and the Sleuth by Summer Devon and Bonnie Dee

Title: The Psychic and the Sleuth
Author: Summer Devon and Bonnie Dee
Cover Artist: Kendra Eggert
Publisher: Samhain
Genre: historical
Length: 237 pages

Inspector Robert Court should have felt a sense of justice when a rag-and-bones man went to the gallows for murdering his cousin. Yet something has never felt right about the investigation. Robert’s relentless quest for the truth has annoyed his superintendent, landing him lowly assignments such as foiling a false medium who’s fleecing the wives of the elite.

Oliver Marsh plays the confidence game of spiritualism, though his flashes of insight often offer his clients some comfort. Despite the presence of an attractive, if sneering, non-believer at a séance, he carries on—and experiences a horrifying psychic episode in which he experiences a murder as the victim.

There’s only one way for Court to learn if the young, dangerously attractive Marsh is his cousin’s killer or a real psychic: spend as much time with him as possible. Despite his resolve to focus on his job, Marsh somehow manages to weave a seductive spell around the inspector’s straight-laced heart.
Gradually, undeniable attraction overcomes caution. The two men are on the case, and on each other, as they race to stop a murderer before he kills again.

Warning: Graphic language and hot male/male sex with light BDSM themes. Despite “Descriptions of Murderous Acts” perpetrated by an unhinged killer, resist the temptation to cover your eyes—you’ll miss the good parts!
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The Psychic and the Sleuth is the latest heir in the genre of amateur investigator working with, or sometimes in opposition to, the steady copper. This time the cop has a personal interest in the case: his pretty young cousin was the victim, and Robert Court doesn’t believe that the man who swung for the murder was the evil-doer.


Late Victorian justice had a way of putting a permanent end on an investigation, and Court’s persistence has had very negative career consequences. He’s working the equivalent of the low end of the fraud squad, crimes that occur when the clever meet the wealthy gullible. Spiritualism had been a movement for some fifty years at the time of this story, and was very popular among those who could pay to receive messages from the “Other Side.” Arthur Conan Doyle himself was a believer, even though his friend Harry Houdini decried it. Houdini spent a considerable amount of time, effort, and money debunking the mediums who crackled, knocked, thumped, and fainted their way into large sums in exchange for kind words and hope for the bereaved. The police occasionally took an interest, particularly at the suggestion of a family member who didn't like the medium's influence or the money drain.

So what happens when the medium is not a fraud? Or not a fraud all of the time? And is terrified of not being a fraud? And has an illicit attraction to the investigator too?

Oliver Marsh has a problem, since the object of his attraction is trying to put him out of business, and possibly into jail. Marsh has had some experience of love and both acceptance of his inclinations and a healthy desire not to suffer for them. Robert Court could create dire problems for Marsh, though as time passes and their relationship grows, he’s less willing to play that threat and more vulnerable to it himself. The accuser could easily become the accused, but Marsh pursues the relationship, not for safety’s sake, though who would blame him? but for genuine affection.

Court also grows in his belief that Marsh is not a dangerous fraud, and that the distressing clues he produces are both legitimate and the trail to the real culprit. As the spiritual matters clarify, the focus changes from the identity of the murderer to how to catch a man for a crime where guilt has been established elsewhere. A pair of secondary characters proves invaluable in the hunt, and are interesting in their own right.

Court’s experiences are of the of the quick, one-off variety; he’s not used to having a conversation, let alone a relationship, with the man he’s having sex with. His domineering tendencies match nicely to Marsh’s submission during sex; they come to enjoy their play more and more. Court can’t seem to keep this from turning into over-protectiveness in the investigation, something Marsh objects to and fights against.

In the end, if justice is not entirely done, then at least the murderer will kill no more, satisfying everyone but the hapless dustman. Court and Marsh’s conflicting needs and converging needs all meet in a late nineteenth century version of a twenty-first century solution, and all are happy, even within the confines of the times.

I wanted to like this story more than I did, and consequently, this has been a very tough review to write. It has a lot of elements done very well, with a good flavor of the late Victorian age, a well executed external mystery and a couple who overcome a number of problems to be together, but something remained flat for me. I could believe in the detective work and in the psychic elements, and I enjoyed the relationship as it relaxed into something both men could enjoy. Court the controlled copper was still Court the controlled and dominant lover, while Marsh could coax him into playfulness from the bottom.

So with all that I recognize that is well done here, this didn’t quite come alive off the page for me. Court’s demeanor is so unrelentingly somber that he loses three dimensionality, and his brief lightness when dealing with his unruly dog (who would probably be a terror to live with) isn’t enough to enliven him. Marsh had more moods, thoughts, and reactions, more emotions in general; his POV scenes were more enjoyable, his dangers more heart-pounding, his happiness more satisfying.

I would still recommend this book for those who like the period or who are fond of amateur sleuth+cop duos. 3.5 Marbles

Barging In by Josephine Myles

Barging In by Josephine Myles
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, GLBT
Length: 219 pages


When the boat's a rockin’, don't come knockin’!

Out-and-proud travel writer Dan Taylor can’t steer a boat to save his life, but that doesn’t stop him from accepting an assignment to write up a narrowboat holiday. Instead of a change of pace from city life, though, the canal seems dull as ditchwater. Until he crashes into the boat of a half-naked, tattooed, pierced man whose rugged, penniless appearance is at odds with a posh accent.

Still smarting from past betrayal, Robin Hamilton’s “closet” is his narrowboat, his refuge from outrageous, provocative men like Dan. Yet he can’t seem to stop himself from rescuing the hopelessly out-of-place city boy from one scrape after another. Until he finds himself giving in to reluctant attraction, even considering a brief, harmless fling.

After all, in less than a week, Dan’s going back to his London diet of casual hook-ups and friends with benefits.

Determined not to fall in love, both men dive into one week of indulgence…only to find themselves drawn deep into an undertow of escalating intimacy and emotional intensity. Troubled waters neither of them expected…or wanted.

Product Warnings
Contains one lovable tart, one posh boy gone feral, rough sex, alfresco sex, vile strawberry-flavoured condoms, intimate body piercings, red thermal long-johns, erotic woodchopping, an errant cat, a few colourful characters you wouldn't touch with a bargepole, and plenty of messing about on the river.
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Who knew there was an entire subculture living a gypsy life aboard long, thin boats on the canals of England? Or that some of them were so darn sexy? Josephine Myles treats us to a peek through Robin Hamilton's reluctant romance with Dan Taylor, travel writer and terrible noob long-boater in Barging In.

The erotic wood-chopping we are warned of brings Robin and Dan together – literally, with a collision and snarling. From this inauspicious beginning wonderful things bloom. Dan's out, footloose, and interested, but Robin's slower to open up; his character is revealed in beautifully done details of his life, his boat, his tattoos, and eventually, his heart.



The small every day things like getting from one end of the boat to the other become real terrors for a novice who's not comfortable with water; Robin drops his gruffness in small chunks, opening up to Dan, teaching him practical things and what it's like to be truly cared for. Each man has his own pain, revealed in his own time. Flaws and fears surface slowly, one step at a time, and we can see each man getting help from the other, all while watching the calendar tick away the brief time that was all they expected to have. Robin and Dan both have tiny thoughts of a future, followed by learning the art of compromise to have anything at all. Spattered with details of life on the canals and rivers, their story swings from hope to despair and back, several times. There's a lot of sex in this book, but it does drive the plot.

The pacing lurches a bit – the first two thirds of the book cover one short, intense week, but the next third encompasses a month that both seems too long and in a few respects like not enough; the time doesn't seem to match the calendar or pace of certain real world transactions, but that may also reflect my imperfect understanding of how both winter and money are managed in England. An occasion of over-telegraphing of what is to come then fails to follow through, hiding an unexpected personality transplant in a pivotal secondary character. That character was a great deal more likeable afterward.

But I love Dan, whose free spirit begins to liberate Robin from the shell he's built, and Robin, who forces Dan to think, and I want them to be happy together. If they don't like the place they're in, they don't have to wait two weeks for British Waterways to roust them, they'll lead each other to a better space. 4 Marbles

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

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

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

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

Their romance is complicated when a series of murders is discovered within St. Bride’s. All of the victims have one thing in common, a penchant for men. While acting as the eyes and ears for the police, a mixture of logic and luck leads them to a confrontation with the murderer—can they survive it?
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Repressed mathematics lecturer Orlando Coppersmith doesn't know what force of nature took his seat by accident in the Senior Common Room, but Jonty Stewart is the sunlight and rain that will nourish his world and crack his façade. Orlando is the brilliant and polite example of Edwardian ideals, never straying into physical impropriety, and entirely unaware of such scandalous things as men lying together. Jonty knows more, including the secret underbelly of single-sex societies; Orlando's innocence is something he both treasures and hopes to channel into a pure love that can also be physical.

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

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

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

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

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




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