Chase the Ace by Clare London

Title: Chase the Ace
Author: Clare London
Publisher listing at Amber Allure
Buy at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 24k (novella)
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, prc, Microsoft Reader

Blurb:

Newly single in his late twenties, and looking for more fun than he gets from his boring job, Daniel Cross soon discovers the lure of social media. After a few hiccups, he’s excited at the chance of tracking down his old mates from the Scorching Summer Sports Club of 1990. He lost touch with his “Gang of Four” after that summer, but now he launches a personal quest to find out what kind of man each boy has become.

It starts well with a link to the first boy’s current address, through a mutual friend on Facebook, until Dan realises he’s been chatting online to the wrong man. Nick Carson isn’t an old school friend at all. It’s a genuine mistake, and Nick isn’t offended. He offers to accompany Dan on the trip to find the others. It’s the first step to friendship and something more for both of them.

For Dan, the reunions with the “Gang of Four” range from startling, heartening and disturbing. Nick’s company is a constant support, though neither of them are prepared for the exposure of personal secrets they’d thought were long-hidden. Dan begins to suspect that he’s really looking for a direction in his own life—and the excitement and purpose he craves may be closer to home than a quest with its roots in a boyhood dream.

Review:

After that blurb, there’s not a lot I can say that’s spoilery—the story is now a matter of how rather than “what”, but it’s still a pleasant afternoon’s read.


Daniel’s remarkably social media-inept for someone of his age bracket, which is good for a chuckle or three, even if it’s a bit contrived. Facebook friending leads him to a road trip with someone who isn’t the old sports club pal he originally thought. Nick’s up for an adventure, and since he drives and Daniel doesn’t, it’s a good thing that he’s got enough flexibility to keep going as they gather addresses.

He’s very good company, too, which leavens the encounters with Daniel’s now-grown friends, which range from entertaining with a side of surprise to shocking and painful. In every visit, Daniel finds a new puzzle in himself, in how he could have overlooked things then, and what he wants for himself now. Nick stays in the background during these encounters, but he has some very good questions later, and Daniel uses the answers to grope towards his own true desires.

I was a bit startled to find an old misconception about cross-dressing trotted out, but other than that I enjoyed the read, watching Nick and Daniel find more intimacy than they expected. There’s more to Nick than meets Daniel’s eye at the beginning, and of course, Daniel’s psyche is kind of hanging out for Nick to get to know because of the nature of their journey. And the sex is hawt.

The chemistry between them is good, and we’re left with the feeling that this road trip is only the beginning of something wonderful. 4 marbles

Review policy reviewed

Now that I'm back, hopefully for the duration, here's how it works if you want my opinion.


Email me at Cryselle C AT gmail DOT com with a MOBI file, a cover art pic, the blurb, and a buy link or two, and let me know anything special about the book, like if it's your first or it's up for an award, stuff like that. I'm willing to look at m/m, m/m/m, and m/m/f.

Now that I'm not reviewing at Jessewave's, I can go back to my previous policy of the occasional ladybits among all the guybits. Anyone who doesn't like ladybits can hold their noses if they like. My blog, my rules. I'm still not reviewing het, but half the world's people are women, I'm a woman, and I refuse to act like women have cooties. A huge number of gay men have had relationships with women, been married, fathered children, might even still be friends with the ex, and all that might be in the story. I want to read that story. Women are part of gay men's lives as something besides Obligatory Pushy Best Friend. Get over it.


Because I think it takes a certain amount of courage to send me a review request, I've gone back to my previous policy. When I was at Dark Divas and Jessewave's, if I touched it, I had to complete it, no matter what. Given my druthers, I won't reward an author's risk taking with a low mark that they don't see coming. I will give an author the option to post or not if I can't give the book at least a 3. I did this before, and some folks have taken me up on that, and others have said post. If I can't honestly say 3 or better, and 3 is "I liked it", I will contact you first.

I could review on a publisher's request, in which case it's buffet rules. I touched it, I take it. They pubbed it, they can stand behind it. The rating, whatever it may be, gets posted.  No confidence? Don't ask me, cause I calls 'em like I sees 'em. I have given out ones. I have a symbol for ACK!

I also give 5s and everything in between.

A story that pleases me will have a couple of well developed characters, a relationship, and something plotwise outside the relationship. I like plot, that's the point of a book. I like sex, too, but sex has to drive the plot. The daily drivel of the character's lives in between sex scenes is not plot -- plot has conflict and resolution, and it needs to make sense. Logic fail will get noticed out loud and if I can't find the plot beyond "hawt guys fuck" you can call me Cryssy Crankypants.

Things that stop me in my tracks:

•  Rape, unless it's a past trauma and offstage
•  Incest, especially twincest. A survivor is fine, but current relationship -- NO
•  Non-con -- don't kid yourself, the right name is rape. 
•  All the squicky stuff that epublishers put in their 'don't submit to us' list
•  Most BDSM. Personal preference, no apologies. Please don't offer it. Absolutely no pain play, blood play, flogging, bondage, humiliation, gagging, CBT. If it requires implements, I don't want to read it, I don't have to explain why, and I don't want to be wheedled for exceptions. Wheedle or push, and I will review, using boilerplate. "Book, DNF, author, TSTL."*
• Het. Really, people. I'm not the right reviewer for that.*

Iffy stuff:

• Dub-con. We might not agree about where the line is. I'm likely to be more restrictive in my definition than you are.
• If it turns out to be "rape him til he likes it" you will suffer the consequences.I don't read het romance for a reason and I utterly rejected the genre for the prevalence of this trope.
• Soul mates -- this one hits the gag reflex, no matter what the writing looks like, 99 times out of a hundred, and the hundredth one is probably involving a non-human. A deep bonding after personalities get explored is fine, just no "only one personnnnnn in the universssssse for meeeeeeeee!" 
• BDSM of the non-implement variety. Psychological aspects might be okay, but know you're taking a risk.

 I'm good with most genres, you've already seen the exclusions. Contemporary, paranormal, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, whatever, bring it on.

My qualifications as a reviewer, well nothing academic, but would you really want someone doing lit-crit on your romance? I offer a habit of devouring words and some critical thinking skills**. My page at Goodreads should tell you something, that's maybe half of what I've read in my life.

I really do open every file hoping to love what I'm reading. 

*Yes, someone tried. Learn from their error.
**If you have plot holes and know it, you might not like that about me. 

A Picture is Worth...

Are they an established couple? New lovers entwined for the first time? Solidifying a relationship? Wouldn't we love a little ficlet (please 1000 words max, or I'll glower, make you expand it, and convince you to publish it) to explain why these two are cuddled together.

See the page How Thousand Word Thursday Works if you're inspired to write, and the rest of us will say AW.

Help for one of our own

You know Patricia Nelson, even if you don't know Patricia Nelson. She's the reviewer who recommended books with her whole heart as Pattycake, Patty, or Trish. She's the Facebooker who's offered a kind word to the sad or laughed with the happy. And she's the fellow m/m reader who lost her husband just before the holidays.

Becky Condit not only has summed up the situation but done something about it. Here's how she explains:

Pat read and reviewed over 600 books, primarily in the m/m romance genre in 2013. She is a strong supporter of gay rights and a respected member of the review and publishing community. Her husband had several episodes of chronic breathing problems during the fall and in December he succumbed to the disease. Pat now lives alone in a small town in Arkansas. She faced the holidays bravely but very much alone. Her only car is giving her trouble and she has the final expenses of her husband's illness and death to pay. The m/m romance community is a tight knit group and we take care of our own. Let's help Patricia get past this point in her life and move forward knowing her friends are at her side.

Pat has been a fan, friend, and confidant to many. She's made us smile with her emoticons and stickers, and brought smiles when we felt down. She has promoted the sales of hundreds of books. And she is a truly lovely person.Please give what you can. Every dollar will help.

I can't say it better than that. Please reach out as you can. Let's keep Patricia warm and fed. She's one of us. She could be us. The Patricia Nelson Support Fund is here.

The Queen's Consorts by Kele Moon

Title:   The Queen’s Consorts

Author:   Kele Moon

Publisher listing:   Loose Id

All Romance eBooks listing   

Cover Artist:  Scott Carpenter

Genre:  Fantasy, Menage

Length:  95,200 words (long novel)

Formats:  epub, mobi, pdf, prc, html

Blurb: The Queen’s Consorts. Just laying eyes on one is a death sentence. So when Sari, who spent most of her life on the streets, ends up entangled in a steamy relationship with the two most forbidden men on the planet, she knows it can’t end well.

After a brutal attack, Sari’s taken to the Sacred City, exposing her to the secret lives of the Rayians who rule in the long lost queen’s absence. It’s in this darkly sexual world where she first meets the legendary consorts.

Too handsome and talented for their own good, Calder and Taryen have learned to trust only each other in order to survive. Bred to be feared warriors and exclusive companions to a queen, instead they’re slaves to other Rayians desires for them.

Their brutal lives make the two consorts hesitant to care for Sari when she’s unexpectedly dumped in their laps, but they soon discover she’s different from the cruel women they’re used to serving. Drawn to Sari on a soul deep level, Calder and Taryen can’t seem to stop themselves from going back for one more taste of the beautiful outsider… even when it puts the fate of the entire world in jeopardy.

Review:

In retrospect, I should have turned this one down. I’m probably not the target market, because I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy, and therefore have some expectations about world building, like consistency combined with cause and effect.

If I were reading only for the sexxors, I probably would have been happy. Sari, Taryen, and Calder are hot, and if one can dissect out the background, they do well together, moving from attraction with “oh no mustn’t touch” to “oh no but have to touch” to “touchy touchy touch” in what is a nicely paced and rather hot progression. In place it’s m/m, m/f, or m/m/f, elsewhere the action is m/f/m, and no one’s left to be the clap and cheer section. Sex scenes are occasionally marred by stilted dialog.

HOWEVER.

The world building is essential to the story, and it’s lacking.

This is a world that by definition has gone through the kind of cataclysm that should have brought governments crashing, economies crashing, populations crashing, and generally become post-apocalytic. The weather went through an abrupt and apparently irreversible change in such a way as to ruin agriculture and keep it ruined, but hey, everything’s in greenhouses  under lights, no big. It’s nice, orderly, and enough to support the entire population of the world and still have endless acres for flowers. The sun hasn’t been seen in close to 20 years, but only the street urchins seem to be starving and the elite sport tans.

The ruling class, the Rayians, can be identified at a glance, women are outnumbered three to one by men and are considered divine apparently just because they’re scarce, but an elite female can be kept as a sex slave without comment. Not only that but she’s still virgin, even though she’s been the chief instructor for “how men should pleasure women” classes. At apparently age fifteen. Or maybe younger. It's very handwavy.

An elite class woman can appear out of the blue without introductions and antecedents, and be totally accepted, at least at on the surface. Sorry, that didn’t work in the Regency era, and it doesn’t convince me here. This is a small enough group that everyone would know everyone, or know their people, but Sari’s included in the very top levels without a blink. There’s only one obvious candidate of this age bracket, and no one aside from She Who Knows even thinks of it, and she seems to be insane.

Most of them seem to be insane, actually, resulting in an entire flock of the sort of Evil Harpy #2 characters generally reviled in m/m. Their entire thought process seems to be “let’s torture two of the three people who could really, really, get even with us if our grip ever slips.”  Otherwise, not a hint of nuance, and no one actually seems to be running things.  

Everyone finally does get laid, wrongs are righted, political structures remade, the sun finally comes out, yay. There’s a reason the old queen traveled around the realm, but Sari’s fine with sitting in one place licking her wounds for more than half a year while the problems of her people and her country *that she could be fixing* are allowed to persist. She’s traveled the world undetected (!) in her earlier days, seeing the troubles first hand, so she has no excuse for delay. Even Sari describes herself as useless during this period, and she's right. Her consorts have been ruined with their sycophancy training: neither Taryen nor Calder kick her butt into action.

In the name of genre I’m willing to accept some of the more fantastical elements, such as facility of languages, elemental connections, and even, I choke to say it, the soul-mate issue. However, in exchange, I want the ordinary parts of the story to make sense, and plot points that are made to seem important to actually be important. The true heart issue is one that felt tacked on - apparently one needs to be a genetic weirdo to be a kind person on this planet.  Many issues I’ve mentioned and several I have not have been tossed at the story without their ramifications being considered, and I am not one of the readers who will shrug at their mismanagement because the sex is hot.

I actually set this book aside at the 25% mark for several months and would not have finished it except for the sense of obligation.  Read it for the sex and the relationship, and gloss past everything else if you value the fantasy genre without the sex. 2 marbles.

Play Me, I'm Yours by Madison Parker

Title: Play Me, I’m Yours
Author: Madison Parker
Buy from Publisher: Harmony Ink 
Buy from All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Catt Ford
Genre: YA contemporary
Length: 244 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

Fairy Tate. Twinklefingers. Lucy Lu. Will the taunting ever end? Lucas Tate suffers ridicule because of his appearance and sensitive nature. When he’s not teased, he’s ignored, and now he doesn’t know which is worse. His one comfort in life is his music; he feels unloved by everyone. What he wants more than anything is to find a friend.

Much to his dismay, both his mom and a schoolmate are determined to find him a boyfriend, despite the fact Lucas hasn’t come out to them. His mom chooses a football player who redefines the term “heartthrob,” while Trish pushes him toward the only openly gay boy at Providence High. But Lucas is harboring a crush on another boy, one who writes such romantic poetry to his girlfriend that hearing it melts Lucas into a puddle of goo. All three prospects seem so far out of his league. Lucas is sure he doesn’t stand a chance with any of them—until sharing his gift for music brings him the courage to let people into his heart.


Review:

I’ve had this book for a while, and it’s been through the Rainbow Awards since I collected the story. It placed tenth in LGBT Young Adult, and the story deserves that accolade. It’s a lovely read, even for someone who usually gets more smuts in her stories.


This story reminds me exactly why I’m glad high school doesn’t need do-overs—that’s one brutal environment and the reader gets totally sucked into the hostile, hormonally fueled setting. The book is intended for 14-18, and they’ll recognize exactly what Lucas is up against. He’s often the butt of the joke because he’s not one of the cookie cutter popular people. He’s gay and just working out the implications, he’s a skilled musician with eclectic tastes (how nerdy!), and he slinks around trying not to be noticed, which is a lot like a kick-me sign. His parents don’t understand, his brother’s horribly embarrassed by him, and he doesn’t have a lot of friends. Life kind of sucks.

He does make some friends, one is the obligatory Pushy Girlfriend, another is an accepting jock who has a delightfully precocious “don’t care what others think, much” attitude. The other gay classmate has a lot of contradictions and prickles, and only kids this age could mistake being gay as enough for total compatibility. Lucas learns a lot from Donovan, not all of it good.

Lucas’ eventual love interest is extremely laid back, and while he comes with some issues, he’s got it remarkably well together. He’s a lovely first boyfriend, and almost too good to be true. Poor Lucas is so traumatized by everything else that’s happened that he probably couldn’t cope with a problematic boyfriend, so it’s kind of nice but a little simplistic that Love Interest is such a restful kind of guy.

Several supporting characters need to be smacked upside the head. Two of them effect some transformations of their own, but it took so long I was gnashing my teeth, particularly as one of them should have been reigned in, by force if necessary, a long time earlier. I found Lucas’ entire family problematic for one reason or another, even the supportive one.

The ending made me smile; not everything is perfect, but it’s enough better that Lucas has hope. One incident toward the end had me going “huh? These aren’t 15/18 year olds talking”, but what they said needed saying. If it wasn’t what I’d expect this crew to say, it’s what they should be decent enough humans to say. Unfortunately, it didn’t ring entirely true, even if I wanted it to be. The situation sprang a lot on the group and they showed the desirable maturity without having any time to process, which is not how I understand teenagers.

I think I’d point readers at the younger end of the intended spectrum at this book, both for the message of hope and for some hint of potential crap to come, although it has just enough sex in it to make me rethink it to 16+ unless the book-buying parent is cool with some oral sex. It’s a nice read for adults, and will make a lot of people besides me grateful that high school is behind us. Lucas does find love, some acceptance, and grows some spine, and his story left me happy.   4 marbles

A Picture is Worth...

The Morning After, 1884

Okay, it's not Thursday, but since I've been not blogging for so long, I have a whole bunch of Thursdays to make up for. And the dissipated mess that is these three guys just begs for an explanation of what they were up to all night long!

Any author who has a flash length story (honest, a thousand words should be the upper limit for posting here, (if it's longer I will do my VERY BEST to make you publish it and then I'll help you promote it, we've had a couple of published stories start from one of these prompts. And a couple more stories that should have been pubbed.), send it along, with your news and such. (See the page about How Thousand Word Thursday Works). If one of my older pics works for you, wonderful, there's no time limit on inspiration. See tag Thousand Word Thursday or Prompt to find them all. See the tag Free Read to find what other authors have accomplished. Some great reading there!