Enslaved - Kate Cotoner

Injured crusader Falk du Plessis survives the Battle of Hattin only to be sold at the slave market in Acre. He's bought by Sinan, a mysterious Saracen who takes care to hide his true identity. Falk has the feeling they’ve met before. Their attraction is instant and mutual and their destinies are inextricably entwined, but duty and loyalty to their respective masters threaten to drive them apart.

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I like historicals, although I admit that here I don't know the background well enough to say how accurate Kate Cotoner's gotten it. And then I decided, it doesn't matter, because it rings true, and she does have a reputation for getting it right. And here, she paints the opposing sides, and the sides within sides, so well that the scholarship doesn't have to be on the reader's end to be fully immersed in the world of the Crusades.

The Saracens have the better end of the deal here, that's for sure, and Falk was wise enough to understand that.

Sinan does seem to talk a little more freely about secret matters than seems wise, but the information had to get out there, and this was one way.

A good read, and I'd read more from this author in a flat minute.



Buy here.

Duet - Eden Winters

Duet by Eden Winters

The English are an evil not to be tolerated, or so Aillil Callaghan believes, and Malcolm Byerly, the Kentish tutor his father brings to the Highlands to teach his younger brothers, is no exception. Their affection for the boys and a shared passion for the violin brings the two men together, and scarlet fever tears them apart. When a Druid priestess offers her aid, grief-stricken Aillil vanishes into legend, to be handed down from one generation to the next.

Over two centuries later, violinist Billy Byerly’s arrival at Callaghan Castle for a concert feels like coming home. An old man presents him with a strangely familiar violin, and from its strings he draws melodies he doesn't remember learning. Billy doesn’t believe in ghosts, but if the tales of the Lost Laird aren’t true, then why does he dream of a dark-haired, kilted Highlander? And why is he haunted by the strains of a phantom violin?

Two violins, one love. How many lifetimes?

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I'm reading my way through Eden's books, lots of good stuff. This one is a little familiar -- love beyond death, one of her favorite themes, and a whole lot new. I didn't know whether to like the historical section better or the modern section, maybe just a smidge toward the historical, if only because I wanted to see Malcolm creep under Aillil's plaidie like the tune says.

A+ for using a name that I haven't seen a billion times to run together with the other stories that use it, and A+ for killing off so many characters and making me like it.

And A+ because the ending is happy after all. *cries and smiles*

My rating: 5 of 5 marbles

Buy it here. Really.

Tasim's Tale -- Stephanie Vaughan

Tasim's Tale

Captured by the Kundari, a neighboring kingdom, Tasim is a stranger in a strange land. When he is made part of the entertainment at a lusty reward ceremony for the king's soldiers, Tasim has one hope for survival: make Dorian, the rugged captain of the regiment, his protector. A single encounter will shock them both -- but first they must survive the night.
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The story, told from Tasim's point of view, tells what happens to the captives after a border skirmish. One would expect fear, confusion, and a sense of outrage after a handler inserts a very large butt plug, but Tasim takes this all far more calmly than the situation warrants. He's more concerned that he's getting hard while bathing with three other men during preparations. The butt plug isn't exactly a spoiler; the scene is excerpted on the publisher's web site.

All in all, Tasim is busy trying to make himself agreeable and what would rationally be a dub-con scenario feels much more like "Oh, okay." There's a lot of sex, and Tasim is fully compliant and even having a good time, in situations where a lot more upset seems called for. The lancers' distress is actually more palpable, and they are minor characters. The tension and thrills that the blurb promise might be very clear in the author's head, but I'm just not feeling it.


There is a sequel to this due out soon, and the excerpt available sounds good, so I do plan to read it.


Buy it here.

Gently Down the Stream -- Connie Bailey

Heading to his country home after a long week of work, Matthew Janssen meets a young man on the train – a startlingly handsome young man named Albin, who claims he can read Matthew's mind and show him his most hidden desires. But when he wakes at his stop, he's alone. Leaving the terminal, Matthew dismisses the incident as an erotic daydream – until he collides with the same young man, who's just missed the last train. Albin insists he's never seen Matthew before, but Matthew isn't about to let him disappear a second time.

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Fans of twu insta-wuv will probably like this better than I did. I tried reading it as a fairy tale, but the absence of a quest plus language that bounced from the self-consciously lyrical to normal to crass (cum is not a romance construction, really)spiked that.

I tried looking it as a fantasy, which probably worked better, given the mind-reading aspect and the complete and total insta-love, but it kept being a fantasy of the one handed read variety, not the plot type, because the plot basically ended at meet, fall in love, sex, total elapsed time, 1 hour.

A story that features phrases such as 'quivering arousal,' 'yearning cock,' and 'anus' has me using both hands to cover my eyes, so that didn't work so well, either.

It seemed like a good idea when I bought it.






Late note -- after looking at how I planned to rank stories more thoroughly, I decided I'd been too harsh and upgraded to a 2. Apologies to those few, those happy few, who were with us on St Swithin's Day.

Song on the Sand -- Ruth Sims

I'm having a guest review from PD Singer today, because she's reviewed an amazing story and I don't think I can find better words to talk about it. "Read this!" she tells me, but forgets to mention that a box of Kleenex would be a good idea for this sad, beautiful, and ultimately not-sad story.


Tony Dalby finds himself on the wrong end of his 80s, confined to a nursing home, with his days as a dancer a thing of the past. The appearance of Drew into his life brings a welcome distraction, as well as a bit of mystery as to why Drew constantly visits the wheelchair-bound, comatose Jesse. As secrets are revealed, Dalby finds he may have a renewed purpose for living after all.


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I first met this story as an excerpt posted on the author's blog, and was moved to write the following after only a few hundred words:

You have just officially broken my heart. This is what I do professionally -- not primary care, but admin/supply a couple levels up and out -- and what I've felt lurking in everyone I talk to. You've given them the voice that I hear as a sussurus of time and experience, of knowledge forgotten as words. Sometimes as disjointed conversations, sometimes as the cry of one whose body will no longer do his will. Excuse me, I'm going to go cry now.

And I did. Then I ran to read the rest.

I stand by those words, but know that the despair drawn so eloquently at the beginning changes to other emotions that moved me equally strongly, as the old man and the young man pooled their unachievable dreams and drew something amazing, beautiful, and uplifting from them.

I cried again at the end, but for other reasons.

5 stars at Goodreads only because they don't have 10

Buy at Amazon, Diesel, or Smashwords.

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Thank you, Pam, and thank you for all the pretty coding. And I agree about the stars!

Sticky Fingers - HT Murray

Several months into the romance phase of their lifelong relationship, Cal Jerome and Ian Jeffries, of Go Fish fame, are just returning home from a vacation on the Jerome ranch and enjoying a taste of home that involves backyard barbecue and watermelon. Ian's never been particularly suave, so it's no surprise he ends up wearing more watermelon than he eats. Completely turned on by the image of Ian covered in watermelon juice, and now, equipped with a handy dandy rind with which to staunch the trademark Ian Jeffries mood-thrashing rhetoric, Cal decides sweet with a side of salty makes for spicy hot fun.

This one was great!

HT Murray has provided another look at Cal and Ian, who had to work so hard to get together in Go Fish. (Hmm, I read it, why didn't I review it? Maybe before…?) That was cute, and had some surprising, and, you'd think, unsexy elements to it, but it worked out great. Now the guys are back.

I love an 'established couple' story, because the story doesn't always have to be some potential couple-shattering event. Sometimes, it's all about the moment. Sticky Fingers is all about the moment, a sweet, salty, sexy, loving, teasing, happy moment that made me smile and be glad to spend the money and the time.

Hot fun. Loved it. Buy it here. Now.

5 of 5 on Goodreads.

Port of Call Me -- Teddy Logan and Mel Spenser

Peter is a recently spurned travel writer who takes a cruise and brings along his on again/off again friend, Tony. The guys meet up with Carlos, a sexy, hot Latino masseur who works on the ship.

However, it's Carlos and Peter who pair off. Even though their time together on the cruise is short, they are extremely attracted to each other. Peter has bad luck jumping into relationships too quickly, and Carlos has avoided hooking up with passengers for fear of becoming too attached, which is exactly what happens when he becomes involved with Peter.

Will Peter and Carlos decide to give their relationship a try? Does what happens on a cruise ship stay on the ship?



I wanted to get all excited about this story, but somehow I couldn't get that worked up. The setting attracted me: I love cruise ships and wish I could go every year. The guys attracted me: who wouldn't love a hot masseur, a horny but sea-sick passenger, and a travel writer with a broken heart but a lively lust? The peek behind the scenes in a ship certainly put a different face on vacations at sea.

And yet-- what I was hoping for in a hot beach read, or a Lido Deck read, didn't quite come together. I never got the feeling that the characters were really engaged with each other. Situations that called for anger or lust felt tepid. I wanted the anger, I wanted the desire, but... I'm still wanting. It had all the elements in place, but they didn't quite move. The point of view didn't feel very settled -- there was a feel of head hopping and I found myself scrolling upward to see whose head I should be in this time.

There were moments of shock -- a good sort, to find out how crew really feel about the tourists (puts a whole new face on that communications officer who kissed me) and humor (what happens to a threesome when the ship rolls?) so I'm glad I read this overall, but it could have been so much more.

3 of 5 at Goodreads 

Buy it here.