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.

Fool's Gold by Sarah Madison

Title: Fool’s Gold
Author: Sarah Madison
Purchase or red on KU at Amazon 
Cover Artist: Reese Dante
Genre: contemporary, horses
Length: 238 pages
Formats Mobi, print


Eight years ago, Jake Stanford had it all: a spot on the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team and the love of his life, Rich Evans. A tragic accident wipes out everything in the blink of an eye. Hard work and sacrifice get him another shot at Olympic Gold, but only if he puts his past behind him and agrees to work with Rich again.

Bound by secrets he cannot share, Rich was forced to give up Jake eight years ago. Now he has a second chance to help Jake realize his dreams. But the secrets that drove them apart haven’t changed, and Rich must face them or risk losing Jake forever.

I had read the original, shorter version of this story in the anthology where it originally appeared, and like it a lot. I’m just as pleased to read the expanded version.

This time around there’s more explanation of the sport Jake and Rich are involved with: three day eventing. This mad conglomeration of skills taxes the horses and riders to the utmost, requiring they be good at everything a horse can do short of racing on the flat. Those who pursue it all the way to the top need money.

Jake’s father has a lot of it, enough to indulge every possible horse related whim his son has, short of letting him date a fellow rider. When Rich gets smashed up in an accident that also kills some of their best horses, Donald is right there to make sure things go as he wishes. Too bad about what his son might want.

This is a story of second chances, so when Rich and Jake come together eight years later, with Rich as trainer, they have plenty to get over. Not only do they have to polish Jake and his horses to an Olympic gold glow, they have to work out the events of the past. This unwrapped plenty of secrets, mostly painful. Both of them have to examine their decisions at the time and the things they would rather not think about now.

We get some scenes from the father’s point of view, which gave another person’s journey to this story. I would like to say Donald’s evolution and eventual repair of his relationship with his son made my heart go pittypat, but Donald at the beginning of the story and Donald at the end seemed like two different people. Anyone as morally bankrupt as beginning Donald doesn’t have a heart to warm up, he’s got a cold, dark cinder. The author substituted an actual human, capable of change, into the later part of the story. Rich calling bullshit on Donald was a high point. Cause wow did he need someone to call bullshit on him.

Rich and Jake have a lot to work out, some because of the wreck and the damage to Rich’s body, and much because of the trust issues. Also, Jake needs a good hard thwack with the reality stick, because he knows his father, he knows Rich, and he never puts these two thoughts together. Not even after eight years, until his nose gets rubbed in it. I wanted to scream at him to THINK!

But suspending the disbelief on these two issues leaves a good read. The horse scenes are vivid, the bond between horse and rider is beautiful, and the riding scenes were definitely written by someone who knows what it’s like to soar over the obstacles. Watching Jake and Rich come back together is sweet, if occasionally difficult. Rich doesn’t shy away from body issues, when Jake was spared and left perfect, and they have to deal with the contrast. There is growth and forgiveness.

The writing is beautiful, the emotions deep, and the settings so real you can feel the reins in your hand. The story leaves off before the Olympics start, but just getting there was their goal all along, and the competition almost another story by itself. Which I would read! 4.25

A Thousand Word Thursday Ficlet from Sarah Madison

Some reading angel sent me a picture that turned out to be exactly what I needed to go with a much-anticipated book on my TBR list: Fool's Gold from Sarah Madison. I enjoy Sarah's work, and can't wait to jump into this one! Sarah sent a snippet to tell us what's going on. 

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They landed in the water with a large splash and headed for the second element. It was smaller than most of the fences on the course, taking into consideration that the horses had to jump this fence from inside the pond, but it was also narrow, inviting the horse to duck out to either side. Kryptonite’s muscles tightened between Jake’s legs; he knew the horse was thinking how to avoid the second fence altogether. Knowing he usually ducked out to the right, Jake put pressure on the horse’s right side and pulled on the left rein. He’d thought they were on track to take the fence when Kryptonite suddenly dropped his right shoulder and swerved left.

The horse simply wasn’t under him anymore. Jake came off the chestnut’s right side with just enough time to raise an arm to protect his head before he hit the unforgiving wood logs. His elbow and shoulder took most of the impact before he bounced off the face of the fence and landed in the water.

So much for the stick-tight gene.

The pond was a foot deep at most, but it was still a shock when cold water splashed over him, soaking him to the skin. He was thrown backward on his rump, and when he put his right hand back for support, his shoulder protested.

Agitated splashing made him turn his head. Instantly, he winced and put up a hand to his neck.

“Are you all right?” Rich came lurching through the water, sending spray flying.

Jake waved him off. “I’m fine.” Aside from being pissed, frustrated, hurting like hell, and wet, that is.

“Go catch the horse.”

“I’ll catch the goddamn horse, all right.” Rich splashed back to the verge and squished up the slope. Kryptonite, having enjoyed a victory canter for dumping his rider, stopped to crop grass quietly. His reins had slid down his neck, and he was in danger of stepping on them. “I’ll catch the horse and then call Taco Bell and tell them they have a pickup.”

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Available now on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! The bestselling M/M contemporary romance about second chances and lost loves, set in the exciting world of competitive sport horses.

Fool’s Gold by Sarah Madison

Eight years ago, Jake Stanford had it all: a spot on the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team and the love of his life, Rich Evans. A tragic accident wipes out everything in the blink of an eye. Hard work and sacrifice get him another shot at Olympic Gold, but only if he puts his past behind him and agrees to work with Rich again.

Bound by secrets he cannot share, Rich was forced to give up Jake eight years ago. Now he has a second chance to help Jake realize his dreams. But the secrets that drove them apart haven’t changed, and Rich must face them or risk losing Jake forever.

*******

Sarah Madison is a writer with a little dog, a large dog, an even bigger horse, too many cats, and a very patient boyfriend. An amateur photographer and a former competitor in the horse sport known as eventing, when she's not out hiking with the dogs or down at the stables, she's at the laptop working on her next story. When she’s in the middle of a chapter, she relies on the smoke detector to tell her dinner is ready. She writes because it’s cheaper than therapy.

Sarah Madison was a finalist in the 2013 and 2015 Rainbow Awards. The Boys of Summer won Best M/M Romance in the 2013 PRG Reviewer’s Choice Awards. The Sixth Sense series was voted 2nd place in the 2014 PRG Reviewer’s Choice Awards for Best M/M Mystery series, and 3rd place in the 2105 PGR Reviewer’s Choice Awards for Best M/M Paranormal/Urban Fantasy series.

If you want to make her day, e-mail her and tell you how much you like her stories.

Website: http://www.sarahmadisonfiction.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahMadisonFic

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sarah-Madison-Author/106445646104338

E-mail: akasarahmadison@gmail.com

Going for Gold Ed EM Lynley

Title:Going for Gold
Author: various, Ed. EM Lynley
Cover Artist: Deanna Jamroz
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: contemporary, sports
Length: 117k words


It's not hard to see the outward appeal of the Olympic Games: watching the fittest and most-accomplished athletes in the world compete—generally with fairly skimpy uniforms. Voyeurism aside, there's nothing sexier than a beautiful body running, jumping, swimming, rowing, and a couple dozen other activities. Who wouldn't take the chance to enjoy the spectacle?

But the Olympics are more than just a chance to watch athletes at the peak of physical perfection. Every competitor at the Games has a story behind why they run or jump or swim, and why they compete. How they got to the Games, and what they sacrificed along the way to make the cut. To spectators, they may perform superhuman feats, but each and every one is human in the same way we all are.

In this collection of stories, you'll find there's a lot more to competing at Olympic level than being the best in one's field. Expectations and pressures from family, friends, coaches and country add up, and sometimes it's only the love of the right man who can make the effort worth it. And sometimes, love is more important than going for gold.

Including:
Hot Shots by Michael P. Thomas
Into the Deep by Nico Jaye
The Quad by Kelly Rand
Lightning in a Bottle by Sarah Madison
Swimming the Distance by Annabeth Albert
Shoot for the Gold by Whitley Gray
An Olympic Goal by K-lee Klein
Tumbling Dreams by Kaje Harper

Review
I enjoyed this collection: I love the Olympics, I love stories with depth and development, I love stories where I might learn something, and of course, I love the hot guys. Every story delivered on most of those goals, though with some different strengths. Averaging around 15k per story, these are all longer than I typically find in anthologies, and with correspondingly more meat. The early stories had me thinking “okay” but after a brief warm-up, my socks were knocked completely off.


Hot Shots tackled shooting sports, and this offering from Michael P. Thomas, a new to me author, nearly put me off the whole collection—I wouldn’t have chosen it for the lead off position, because it had the one character I found horribly annoying, compounded by not finding out his name until a third of the way through. Bo, a self-confessed athlete groupie, is only interested in sports in order to cuddle up to the other sportsmen. Even in a piece intended as humor, his assumption that he can get good enough at any sport in six months to even stand next to athletes who have been perfecting their technique since before they started shaving didn’t set well. Bo does some learning, growing, and falling in real love, and the story did grow on me by the end.

Nico Jaye is another new to me author: Into the Deep pairs an American diver with a London local during the Olympics, and while the story was pleasant, it had a flavor of “The Virgin Gazillionaire’s Private Pool” about it. Heavy doses of coincidences and overly extreme characterizations detracted from bartender Blake’s very real doubts about getting involved with a foreigner, and the whole was sweet but trite.

I have met Kelly Rand’s evocative prose before and enjoyed it here again in The Quad, the only story set in the Winter Olympics. Her skater needs the confidence to land the quad jump in competition, and finds support from the most unlikely quarter. This story unrolled beautifully, playing with Kevin’s confidence in his skating and in his personal life, and the man who steps in to help him doesn’t promise more than he can deliver. As she has done before, Kelly Rand leaves the characters standing on the edge of dazzling possibilities. Very well done.

Sarah Madison’s thorough understanding of horses and equestrian competition shines brightly in Lighting in a Bottle, where she focuses more on the lead up to getting into the Olympics than on the big event. Her protagonists have a complex and not entirely happy history when they are thrown together again to prepare Jake and his horses for competition. I absolutely felt like I was in the barn and in the jumping ring with the competitors, and rooted hard for Jake and Rich to make a go of both their relationship and the competitions, and to untangle the complexities that plague them. I still have no idea what the name of their particular event is, involving both dressage and jumping, but the story is so good I almost don’t care.

Distance swimming and the perils of being out publicly are the focus of Annabeth Arden’s Swimming the Distance. Bohdan Petrov is torn between love for his partner, Kyle, and being open about it as Kyle would like. Bohdan’s performance in his 1500 meter race is at stake as he repeatedly denies being gay and/or in a relationship. The ups and downs of his performance and his relationship provided some satisfying reading, although I was a little distracted by formulating my own replies to nosy interviewers.

Back to shooting sports again with Whitley Gray’s Shoot for the Gold, where marksman Matt Justice beans himself on some scaffolding at the Olympic Village and has to deal with the residual effects of the injury. He’s severely limited in treatment options unless he cares to disqualify himself from competition, but sports doctor Levi Wolf, who’s carrying baggage of his own, has some non-pharmacologic treatments (not that, get your minds out of the gutter!!!) that can keep Matt competing honestly. Professional ethics, past history, and personal attraction conflict here, adding a nice dimension to the story. This is another new to me author, and I’ll be checking out the back list.

In An Olympic Goal, K-Lee Klein examines the conflicts between playing for a professional team in one country and a national team in another, and adds the complication of one’s lover playing for the other country. This sounds like a lose/lose proposition on a couple levels, but the Swiss and Spanish football (soccer) players turn it into a win for everyone somehow. Soccer is one of those “wake me up when it’s time to cheer” sports for me (yes, I am aware this is blasphemy in some quarters) but I remained interested in the conflicts and the lovers, if not the sport.

Tumbling Dreams was the story that had me sniffling and rereading immediately, and is an amazing finish to a great collection. Kaje Harper’s gymnast Tyler has a berth on the Olympic gymnastics team, a threatening injury, and a roommate whose heart breaks silently and repeatedly with every backflip and vault. Eli’s living in quiet desperation, both wanting Tyler to achieve his dreams and to back away from the sport, and for Tyler to want him as more than a friend but not if every morning brings a fresh chance to destroy himself while Eli has to watch. Densely layered and slightly tragic, this story doesn’t wrap everyone and everything in gold.

The book did have a couple of formatting issues that cut severely into the reading experience. While certainly not the authors’ fault, the construction of the MOBI file did not permit jumping to the table of contents. Come on, MLR, this is pretty basic. Also not the authors’ fault, and maybe not even the editor’s choice, it’s hard to say, but the trademark acknowledgements at the beginning of each story felt like a great big slap in the face. Yes, it’s legal jargon and has to be there, but no, I did not appreciate the big jolt out of the reading mood between stories. Stick it at the front where I can get it over with or at the end where I can admire the legal thoroughness instead of after each title where I get knocked out of the story before I even start.

Between a couple of just okay stories and some irritating publisher’s choices, I can’t say this is a gold medal read across the board, but there are certainly a lot of winning stories in this volume. Warmly recommended. 4.25 marbles