What I Am Reading ~ Treva Harte: Intimate Choices
July 26, 2007
Intimate Choices by Treva Harte
From: Changeling Press
Best friends… and old regrets.
Once in a while everyone wishes they were in someone else’s shoes.
Moira wishes she was in her good buddy Samantha’s — or, better yet,
out of Sam’s shoes and in bed with Samantha’s husband Phil.Samantha wishes she could lead a live like Moira’s — a life filled
with temptations, and no reason to refuse them. Handsome men, a
glamorous job, a future filled with possibilities — possibilities Sam
gave up to marry Phil. Now it seems like she and Phil have been
married forever. It’s no fun being taken for granted.One wish can change a lifetime…
I know, I know, You’re all like… dude, what is so hell amazing about this book? I’m like dude… Dude! DUDE! Check out the god damned cover and who published it. Fucking Changeling Press that’s who dude! They have like a real sweaty mantitty type dude pictured on the cover not strangely contorted Poser people. And you’re like all duuuude. Wait till the Poser Union hears about this dude they will be puttin heavy hate on your Poserphobic ass. And I’m like all, yeah, but real mantitty is worth the hating dude.
Tags: Changeling Press, Contemporary Romance, Straight, Treva HarteWhat I Am Reading ~ Jamie Craig: Unveiled
July 24, 2007
Unveiled by Jamie Craig
Coming in August From: Amber Allure
Beauty is in the eye of the master…
Gideon Keel and Jesse Madding have seen dozens of gruesome crime scenes over the years, but nothing compares to the grisly discovery they make in a small apartment above a sporting goods store. The body has clearly been put on display, and clues in the apartment indicate that while the woman was dying, party guests were enjoying rich caviar and expensive champagne. The two men are mystified.
They receive help from an unexpected source—a young woman they rescue from an auction at the vampire club, Sangre. Emma Coolidge is determined to save her sister from the same monsters Gideon and Jesse are hunting. While both men are utterly fascinated by her beauty, her intelligence, and her rare talent as an empath, they value her for her friendship. The three plan a sting operation to infiltrate the small group of “art connoisseurs” by sadistically turning Jesse into a living work of art, but will it be enough to save Chicago from more vicious murders in the name of beauty?
Heh! This reminds me of a Baltimore Motorcycle Club anniversary I was hanging around at one time. By “hanging around”, I mean I was literally hanging from a frame that John setup and suspended me in chains in a horizontal position. They wheeled me out on stage and had each club member come up with a lit candle and pour a little wax onto me and then set the candle into the wax. By the end of the scene I was this huge hanging human candle holder. Those club guys gave me a big hug every time I saw them for months afterwards.
Ah, the life of an old school Leather slave, I tell ya.
Tags: BDSM, Gay, Jamie Craig, Vampire RomanceA Letter To Steve Jobs
July 22, 2007
Dear Steve,
I am sorry to bother you but I have sent several requests through the various channels at Apple and I figured ‘hey, why not do what I do best?’ and Blog a letter to the “GO TO” guy at the company I love. The one guy at Apple I know from watching all your various presentations on YouTube, knows how to use the internet effectively.
So Steve, to begin, I love my iPhone. I splurged and went and bought the top of the line 8 gig model with all the excitement I had when I bought my first Apple IIe. Yes Steve, I have supported you and your company for a long long time.
But… I have noticed as a person now writing eBooks with my partner that someone forgot to do two really very important things on the iPhone that would be so simple to fix quickly and easily. Can I request those two functions from you? They will only take a limited amount of effort I promise.
1) Put Adobe Reader on the iPhone. With only one change in order to use it better… let it work in the landscape mode like the internet browser. This way I can read the eBooks I have purchased in comfort. I look forward to the day iTunes will sell PDF files (eBooks) especially the ones I write but I know that is a much larger task for you.
2) Allow iTunes to copy over my PDF files (eBooks) I keep in a playlist in iTunes on my eMac and put them in iTunes on my iPhone to be opened by that Adobe Reader we were just talking about. You showed real brilliance for allowing me to use iTunes as a library for PDF files (eBooks) on my eMac. I would like to see this ability copied to my iPhone.
Those are the only two things I really can think of that would make my iPhone priceless to me.
Thank you for your time Mr. Jobs and Good Work on the iPhone.
A happy Apple customer,
TeddyPig
What I Am Reading ~ Evangeline Anderson: Pledge Slave
July 18, 2007
Pledge Slave by Evangeline Anderson
From: Ellora’s Cave
Andrew Baines is a new member of Alpha Psi, a reluctant pledge to the college’s most popular fraternity. On the last night of Hell Week, Andrew completes his initiation with a carnal act designed to humiliate him. But instead of disgusting him, the deeply erotic encounter arouses him almost unbearably. Andrew is confused and tortured by his reaction. He doesn’t want to think about the terrible urges he keeps buried inside, let alone act on them…urges that will get him kicked out of the fraternity and disowned by his family.
Tony Ginelli is an Alpha Psi brother, the recipient of Andrew’s act of erotic initiation. When Andrew becomes his slave for the next two semesters, Tony masters the handsome pledge in every way that counts. As Tony discovers Andrew’s long-held secrets and desires, the lovers forge a bond that lasts beyond college. But while Tony helps Andrew face his demons, he is terrified to reveal his own dark secret…one that could kill the very man he loves.
Frat Boy Werewolf Bondage Lovin? *sigh* Or is it Alpha Psi?
Evangeline Anderson, you you you… sassy wench.
You wrote this evil book just to trap me! I know you did.
I have no shame, give me that book! Give it to me NOW!
Tags: BDSM, Evangeline Anderson, Gay, Werewolf RomanceJ. M. Snyder: Under A Confederate Moon
July 16, 2007
Under A Confederate Moon by J. M. Snyder
From: Amber Allure
Slowly Brance lowered the gun. He crammed it into the waistband of his pants, a makeshift holster. Then he stepped up to Caleb and raised one hand to his face. Caleb flinched, but Brance only traced the curve of his jaw, then lifted his chin until they faced each other. Again, his eyes were unfathomable—Caleb wished it were night and they had changed, if only because then he knew what went on behind that pale gaze.
Tenderly Brand touched the dimple in Caleb’s chin.
“Don’t follow me,” he whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you.”Caleb nodded quickly, eager to please; then Brance kissed him, his beard itchy against Caleb’s hairless chin. As that sure tongue licked into him again, Caleb’s eyes slipped shut and his hands went limp, the blanket falling in a heap at his feet. The touch on his face disappeared, followed by the mouth on his. He sighed and kept his eyes closed as he listened to the faint sounds of Brance slipping away into the woods.
It took the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, but Caleb finally stumbled upon his discarded shirt, halfburied in mud and covered with paw prints. He picked it up, shook it out the best he could, and slipped his arms into the shredded sleeves. The buttons were gone. Pulling it shut across his chest, he untied the blanket around his waist and tucked the shirt down, then reknotted the blanket. The shirt was cold and damp; the fabric stuck to his back, clammy in the shadows. He’d need to see the sutler about a new shirt when he got back to his camp—the major would pitch a fit if he saw Caleb wearing this rag.
As Caleb retraced his route from the previous evening, his mind inevitably circled back to Brance. Like a bad cold, Caleb couldn’t shake him. The man infected his thoughts; the memory of his hands and lips and mouth was a ghost that lingered to haunt Caleb’s skin. A big man, rugged, not the type Caleb normally liked, but there was something untouchable about him that dogged Caleb, something unattainable that promised pleasure and so much more, if only Caleb could catch hold of it. How easy would it be to lose himself in a man like that? To give himself up wholly to him? What would it be like to chase the moon and stars with Brance at his side? How fast would they run, how far would they go? Could they outrace this present strife, put their pasts behind them, and move into a future where their hearts and souls, human and animal both, became one?
Caleb Chilton is a Confederate Soldier fighting a losing war amongst the ranks and hiding a dangerous secret. Dangerous for him that is. Every month at the full moon he changes into a bobcat which is more than a little inconvenient in the middle of a war zone.
While out one full moon night dodging bullets from his own guys while in his bobcat suit he stumbles upon another bobcat. One that just so happens can talk just like he can. Brance, a Yankee as we will soon come to find out, is wounded. Caleb immediately wants to help Brance even if it is against the older bobcats wishes for him to do so. After a night of hunting for Brance and helping him recover, Caleb and Brance awake to a morning both human, nude and ready to find out more about each other in many different ways.
I have to admit short sweet and to the point stories like this one impress me. I like an author who is not out to write the next big series and who’s whole point seems to be to clearly express as economically as possible a single brief moment between two unique men. It spurs my own imagination when done right to fill in the blanks so to speak and makes me love the story even more for the chance to stretch myself while enjoying the finely focused text.
J. M. Snyder has written a nice wonderful short story of southern boy redneck love that totally makes up for the many other literary sins I have read this week. Thanks J.M. for making me believe that eBooks are still a place to find something small but very special that falls far outside of the typical attempts at over baked, over wrought, epics with questionable character motivations and cream filler rich novels full of stale angst. I for one enjoy the fact you simply made me smile at a really good delicious bite of a tale.
Bobcats, bite, tale, get it? Grade A
Tags: Amber Quill Press, Gay, Grade A, J. M. Snyder, Weresomething RomanceEvangeline Anderson: Eyes Like A Wolf
July 15, 2007
Eyes Like A Wolf by Evangeline Anderson
From: Loose-Id
“Oh, Richard…” I disengaged from the hug, feeling like I was going to cry. I’d had enough drama in my life for one night; I needed to get control of myself. “How’s Dad?” I asked to change the subject. “Are you two still close?”
“He’s…Rachel, I’m sorry but he’s dead.” Richard sank onto the couch, and I sat beside him, feeling like I’d been punched in the gut.
“When…when did he die?” I managed to ask. So much for no more drama.
“A few years after Mom took you away.” Richard’s voice was low and troubled. “He, uh…he committed suicide.”
“No.” I put a hand over my mouth, my eyes wide.
He nodded. “I’m afraid so. He just, well…he couldn’t live without her.”“Couldn’t he have found someone else? Someone new?” I still couldn’t believe it. My father, the strong, black-haired man with the deep voice and the warm scent of aftershave and cigars…my father was dead. Dead so many years and I had never known it until now.
“There was no one else for him but her. Just like there’s no one else –” He shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll spare you the trauma and let you know that I know Mom’s gone, too.”
“She passed away almost three years ago,” I said dully. “Some kind of fast-acting cancer. It was all through her almost before we knew anything was wrong. She got the diagnosis and a month later…” I shook my head.
Richard looked troubled. “That’s fast, all right. I’m sorry, Rache.”
How hot is this book? To quote the remarkable Robin Williams from Good Morning Vietnam. “It’s hot. Damn hot! Real hot! Hottest thing is my shorts. I could cook things in it. A little crotch pot cooking.”
Rachel Kemet and Richard Kemet are Amon-kai. Raised as brother and sister. Rachel was kidnapped by her mother in an act of betrayal and kept away from her father and adopted brother and taught to deny her heritage as Amon-kai (Egyptian Werewolves).
Seventeen years, three months, and five days later her brother Richard comes to Tampa and promptly gets into trouble thus running into Rachel, an Assistant District Attorney, at the police station while under questioning. Rachel who is getting married in a month, immediately invites her brother to stay at her place despite the protests of her fiance.
Charles Rivera, her fiance, has every right to be worried. Rachel by getting back in touch with her brother will also be getting back in touch with her heritage and the fact that she is Richard’s Lana-zeel and he is her Lanor-zur. (Are carved in Lapis Lazuli… oops Yeats moment there. Wooo, that was close.) Charles is getting cock blocked but good. Soon Richard will be in her bed and luring his mate into breeding with him.
Oh man, I swear people use the paranormal category to get away with stuff that would never pass muster otherwise. Please keep in mind at all times while reading this book that Richard is her “adopted brother” and your tray in an upright locked position… What did you just say? You are just plain sick, hear me, shame on you! The sex scenes in this book are “hot hot hot” which is also a really good remixed Cure song. Evangeline Anderson is working that Werewolf sex thang for all it is worth here.
So, the sex is hot and the guy is hot but did I have problems with the rest of the story? I mean it is violent, and you will find out why Richard has hunted his dear sister down and it is not just for the great sex. It might also be because he turns into a mindless homicidal werewolf during full moons and the only thing that can stop him is a little sisterly lovin. Egyptian Werewolves are freaks like that.
One of the noticeable problems I had is with the “no means yes”. Seems every sex scene between Rachel and her humpalicious brother Richard included the word NO and the word STOP and the letter OOOOH, again and again. Even as a gay man who has said “No, a thousand times no!” to a big bruiser in bed only to later allow him to ravish my delicate behind (HAH!), it really started to irk me out. I guess she did not want to come across as a major slut yelling “Do me now Moondoggy, I’ll be your Gidget forevers!”. Rachel just overplays this stuff and seems to feel being Amon-kai makes her queen of denial. She denies just about everything…
“That’s enough!” I pulled away from him suddenly, sitting up in bed, heedless of the fact that he could see my bare breasts. “Don’t, Richard,” I told him, holding up a hand when he would have gathered me into his arms. “Don’t. We can’t — it’s wrong.”
“Sorry…I’m sorry.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, his eyes glowing green in the darkness of the room. “It’s just that I…I missed you so much, Rache.”
I knew it was more than that — more than missing — more than longing for whatever it was that we had had as children that was now perhaps lost to us forever. But I didn’t want to admit it to myself or to Richard.
“Let’s just…just go to sleep.” I fumbled for my nightshirt, suddenly aware of my state of undress.
“Wait…” He put out a hand to stop me. “Let me just…let me look at you for a minute. You’re so beautiful, Rachel, so absolutely gorgeous. I just want to look, I swear.”
“All — all right,” I said at last. Lowering my crumpled nightshirt to my lap, I let him see me, let him drink in the sight of me bare-breasted in the dim light of my room.
“Goin’ on a spider hunt,” he said softly, trailing one long finger over my full breasts and down to the shivering cup of my navel. “X marks the spot.”
But instead of marking an X on my trembling flesh, he cupped my naked breasts in his hands, rubbing gently over my tight nipples with his thumbs until I had to bite back a moan.
“You said…you said you just wanted to look,” I accused him in a breathless whisper. I wanted to pull away from him, but somehow I didn’t feel able.
“I can’t help myself,” he murmured, still stroking the tight nubs of my sensitive nipples. “I need to touch you, Rachel. Even if it’s just to play a child’s game.”
I don’t think it was lost on either of us that what we were doing was much more serious than any game we’d played as children. From somewhere deep inside of me, I found the strength to pull away from him and slip my nightshirt back over my head.
“No more ‘spider hunt’ tonight,” I said. “Okay?”
“All right.” He made as though to leave the bed, but I pulled him back, unable to let him go no matter what forbidden thing had just happened or almost happened between us.
“Just hold me,” I told him. “Hold me and let’s go to sleep.”Richard lay with me cupped in the curve of his body in the old familiar way. But when his hands traveled under my nightshirt and cupped the bottom curves of my breasts, I somehow couldn’t stop him. Even when he stroked my nipples with gentle fingers, I didn’t say a word, although I told myself I would if he tried anything else. To my mingled relief and disappointment, he didn’t try to go any further. But I felt a hot hardness pressing against the back of my thighs, reminding me that the innocence of our childhood was gone forever even as he stroked me to sleep.
After more than a few moments like this and even up to the very last pages of the book Rachel’s denial makes her character seem fucking weak for a lawyer. Richard saved her sorry ass several times and god damn it, instead of moral outrage, I wanted her to show the stud some sort of obligation to try and overcome her inner (The man is my brother I shall not want. Oh look at his shiny hard magically delicious cock.) turmoil and at least throw him a bone.
I am not even so sure on the HEA here. Rachel, like her mother, might take off on poor old brother Richard eventually. The ongoing protests and the constant denial well, it undercut my trust in her judgment and frankly it undermined her change of heart at the very end of the book as believable and long lasting. No matter how many paragraphs were used to justify the switch.
But! STOP, NO, WAIT, OOOOOOOH! This book is still well worth picking up. Richard is magically delicious (Yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers!) and the sex is hotter than any of the current run of the mill books I have bought lately and damn it all, if I can overlook her, you can overlook her. Just like you can overlook everything bad I just said because the “no means yes” and the sisterly lovin is fun, and the attempted fiance rape scene… well hey, Charles needed to go bye bye. Richard’s knotty dick of death made for a great diversion.
Come on sis, you know you want it.
Grade B as in buy it!
Tags: Evangeline Anderson, Grade B, Loose-Id, Straight, Werewolf RomanceWhat I Am Staring At In Amazement ~ Carol Lynne: Finnegan’s Promise
July 13, 2007
Finnegan’s Promise by Carol Lynne
From: Ellora’s Cave
Ewwwwww! Is it me or are one of those tighty-whiteys not so whitey?
I heard automatic dishwasher soap can get those stains out.
Dude! I would have gone free balling before picking up someone from the bar in those. Unless it is a personal kink.
Jorrie Spencer: The Strength Of The Pack
July 9, 2007
The Strength Of The Pack by Jorrie Spencer
From: Samhain
“You’re right. Not all your lovers are married, Seth. I’m not married. The divorce came through a year ago and I left Derek a year before that.”
He froze. Dammit. She was available. Strangled elation twisted inside him, potent and useless. He had to discard any hope of something long-term. It was dangerous. Nobody wanted a feral human, especially the mother of a normal child. Because he could never have children, a family, a normal life.
She was in his house. Broken rule number two. He looked back at her.Her palm was pressed against her forehead, though her gaze didn’t leave him. As if observing him would help her, though his surface would reveal nothing right now.
“I can’t believe you’re disturbed by this news, Seth.”
He shrugged, aiming for nonchalance.
Her brown eyes turned liquid with fury. “What the hell was this about?”He let his own anger form. “What do you think?” he asked, voice rough. He pushed on, ignoring the hurt his words caused. He had to do this right though he could feel a muscle jump in his cheek. “You might have mentioned this little fact about your divorce earlier.”
Her stunned, pale face cut him and he gritted his teeth so they wouldn’t chatter with emotion.
“You didn’t ask,” she said, confused. “I didn’t realize you wanted me to be married. I thought you were interested in someone single. Like I was.” She drew in a long, shaky breath. “I’ve been lonely, see, though that’s stupid to admit.”She lived in Atlanta, not here. Distance was important. She thought she understood his alarm but she didn’t. His sister had revealed herself to a normal lover who’d felt disgusted and betrayed. Who had betrayed in turn. Who knew what Jamie’s reaction to his real self would be? “When are you going back to Atlanta?” he managed.
“You’re scared I’ll be around to beg you for another invitation. Don’t worry about that.” She spun on her bare foot and headed back to the den, almost running into the doorframe.
He followed, observed two spots of color on her cheeks and wished he could ease her wounded pride, her sadness. She shoved her legs into her jeans and wiped a tear from her eye.
“Jamie, look.”
“Shut up. I’m not going back to Atlanta. I live here now.”
Wariness overrode his guilt. Again. “You lied to me.”
Her jaw dropped. “I did not.”
“You said you were living in Atlanta.”She shook her head. “It upsets you that I live here? God, Seth, you sure do keep to yourself.” That concern flickered in her eyes, made his gut churn. She was too good and this conversation was going from bad to worse. “I didn’t tell you I’d moved back because I didn’t want to go into how Derek has no time for his son and my parents do. It seemed like too much information, too soon. My mistake, though not my biggest one, I think.”
“That was a lie of omission,” he insisted.
“Don’t make me out to be the bad guy, Seth. If I’d any idea this information was critical, I wouldn’t have avoided it.”
“And I wouldn’t have…” He jammed a hand into his hair, at a loss. Explaining they wouldn’t have made love if he’d known she was available was not going to help. “Why would you go to a bar on your own? Not with a friend, at least?” he asked in exasperation. He’d thought she’d wanted to keep her infidelity secret.“I’m having trouble connecting up with old friends,” she replied woodenly. “The two I keep in touch with no longer live here.”
He didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry” seemed inadequate.
“I’ve heard of people like you.”
“People like who?” he demanded, instantly alert. She couldn’t know he was a werewolf but her contempt made him nervous.
“Players.”
“Players?” He practically stuttered on the quaint word. Relief. “I’ve never thought of myself as a player. I’m good to my lovers when they don’t lie to me.”
“I didn’t lie. Stop twisting this.”
“I need people to be upfront with me.”
“Yeah, like you were with me.”If you only knew. He shut his eyes. “Look, Jamie, stop playing the angel here. Or the prude. You were on the prowl.”
“Not really.” Her mouth played at the corner. Regret. “I wanted to pretend that I could be wild.”
“You wanted good sex. You got it. You should be satisfied.”
To his horror, her eyes filled with tears. He crossed to her. “I didn’t mean that. You’ve knocked me for a loop.”
She batted his hands away. “Seth. I doubt you understand what single motherhood is like. I needed to get out of the house. I don’t know how to pick up men in bars!”
“You managed fine. Stop talking like casual sex is an anathema to you. We enjoyed it.”“It wasn’t casual for me.”
He couldn’t argue. Women, as he bloody well knew, didn’t wear sports bras when they wanted to go home with someone from a bar. He spread his hands before him. “Tonight is all I can offer you. I’m sorry.”She was picking up her purse now, grabbing her jacket. He wanted to rewind the scene so they could get back to the sex, the cuddling, the kissing. Of course, he’d made sure to destroy any chance of that. He had to. His sweat smelled of fear and self-loathing. He wondered if she subconsciously picked up his emotions because she was staring at him in consternation and bafflement.
He broke eye contact and pulled on his pants.“Call me a taxi,” she ordered. “Now. I need to get out of here.”
OK, You are a taxi!
Let’s start from the beginning, this cover is the ugliest damn thing I have ever seen from Samhain. There is nothing even remotely sexy about that picture. The putrid thing is creepy as hell.
Jamie Buchner has been recently divorced and has moved back to her home of Cedartown, from where she had lived in Atlanta, to raise her son. While on her first and only night out at a local bar she runs into Seth Kolski and proceeds to go home with him and have mad passionate sex. Then right after that mad passionate sex they have a mad passionate fight as you can tell from the excerpt above.
This argument above would not normally be a problem for me if it did not leave me thinking to myself… What the hell did these guys actually talk about at the bar? It’s not like the writer has to tell me everything they said but… Would it not be sorta normal to ask typical conversational questions of the girl you are so desperately in love with and has suddenly shown up at a local bar and is not wearing a wedding ring? Would you casually at least ask what she is doing in town?
Especially when the last time you “stalked her” as a wolf she was in Atlanta and married with a kid.
Now, after a conversation like this one shown in the excerpt above would you honestly like this guy much? Remember, you were recently divorced from a loser who fucked around on you. See, looking to hook up with another loser so soon afterwards is a problem for me and not the only one I ran into here.
He had her on the floor, ripping off her pants, tearing the foil packet open, covering himself.
“Yeah, well things kind of got away from me.” He never wanted her to know how much. Still, he claimed her mouth one last time, to remind her of what they’d shared. Then he took care of the condom.
Here is yet another example. Notice he uses a condom in one of the only two detailed sex scenes in this entire book, around page 29? Well next thing you know three weeks later she is pregnant. I did not catch him seeing any problems with said condom. He did not seem to show any surprise at said condom having slipped or even broken.
So I have to take this as a sign of special werewolf magic sperm.
Also note I just pointed out the first sexual encounter occurred on and around page 29. I got damn bored with this book and started actually counting, which is not a good sign by the way. It took another 113 pages before we get to another sex scene. Believe me, there was more angsting and inner turmoil going on in those 113 pages than any main character interaction or any real action happening for that matter.
I really should try and say clearly that I am not all about sex. To me the absence of sex is just an easy indication there is an overwhelming lack of significant main character interactions in vast expanses of this story. Most of this book ends up explaining in detail whatever Jamie is worried over not what is actually going on, which unfortunately for the most part not much is going on. So I hope you like all the various flavors of angst.
Jamie starts off with “Why does Seth not call me?” and this AFTER wolf boy acted like a total asshole to her at his house. Why would Jamie be waiting for him to call? It just seemed strange, weak willed and self inflicted. Then the next thing you know they meet at her kids school because Seth is the local elementary school gym teacher and she is all “Leave me alone!”. I was seriously scratching my head with the damn mood swings.
When Jamie finds out she is pregnant with Seth’s kid. (How I ask? HOW?) things get really weird because she keeps admitting to herself that she likes him but then does not immediately tell him that she is pregnant with his child. How does that work? How do you like someone but can not bring yourself to divulge important personal information that will effect his entire life?
Then when she actually tells him (In the middle of an argument where she then is yelling NO ABORTIONS! We will not even discuss it. Being she has such a great record of choosing men I find this to be more than a little stupid.) he does not even ask the one question I would have asked. “Are you sure it is mine? I used a condom you know. Are you pawning your ex-husband’s next kid off on me?” This whole skeptical (Jamie is a basket case of conflicting mood swings.) male thinking and subsequent discussion does not come up till pages and pages later when it would have been an initial response in my mind. After all the freaky erratic behavior she has shown and all.
“I’m feeling wild here, Jamie. I don’t know if I can take it slow.”
“I don’t care. I want you.” She wanted, most of all, to show she loved him, certain these body memories would help him while he roamed the forest alone at night. They kept her company.
He hesitated and then they were together, hands on each other, kissing with a desperation that scared Jamie, though she couldn’t let him know. He should know she loved him and he had to come back to her. Despite his warning, he was careful at the moment of entry, eyes questioning.
“Yes.” Her hands caressed his face. “Seth, I love you.”
He answered with an overpowering kiss. Her mind emptied as he moved and touched her, inundating her senses with urgency. For the longest time she couldn’t think, just feel, and the release from thought was a gift she didn’t want to relinquish.
But she did, after they exhausted each other.
In the aftermath, they didn’t speak right away, just touched. Jamie traced lazy circles on Seth’s back until his breathing slowed and their skin cooled.
Last but not least after 113 pages of Jamie’s self involved angst you get a blow job and a quick fuck and the rest of the book just summarizes the sex scenes as shown in the excerpt above. I felt robbed of the crazy scary animal lovin here! I mean, if you are gonna drag me kicking and screaming though one overly long angst ridden, self involved, problem after another. All being easily solved once seriously confronted, you had better make it all worth my time and effort. Not so with The Strength of The Angst.
This book just hits me as needing a real trimming. There simply was no reason we had to be shown again and again that Derek, Jamie’s ex-husband, was a flake. We did not have to be shown again and again that Seth was good with kids. There was really no reason for all the phone conversations we were forced to listen in on. Why did we even need to go to Jamie’s mom and dad’s? Nothing of consequence actually took place for pages and pages.
All the action seemed to be saved up for the last few chapters and by that time so much nothing had happened I was really over this book.
Grade D.
What do other people say…
Book Utopia
Fallen Angel Reviews
Once Upon A Romance Review
My Book Cravings
Literary Nymphs Reviews
Rites of Romance Reviews
Joyfully Reviewed
What I Am Reading ~ Shelly Laurenston: Here Kitty, Kitty
July 4, 2007
Here Kitty, Kitty by Shelly Laurenston
From: Samhain
What do you do when you’ve got a hillbilly tiger by the tail? Or maybe the question should be: what wouldn’t you do…
Nikolai Vorislav likes his single life just as it is. Simple, relaxing and quiet. What he doesn’t need is some foul-mouthed Texan hellcat living in his house, eating his food, flirting with his idiot brothers and shooting holes in his home with his granddaddy’s gun. But those long legs, dark eyes and lethal tongue are making Nik insane and he fears he may be caught in the sexiest animal trap ever.
Angelina Santiago doesn’t know how she got from Texas to North Carolina in a night or how she ended up in some hillbilly tiger’s house wearing only a sheet. What she does know is that she doesn’t like good ol’ boys with slow, sexy drawls who can’t seem to stop rubbing up against her. Yet in order to protect her friends, Angie has to stay with a cat who seems hellbent on finding all sorts of delicious ways to make her purr.
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Sarah Black: Wolf
July 4, 2007
God Damn it! If they do not stop playing with my databases and losing my posts I will hurt someone. I swear. Now where were we? Oh yeah, this crap.
Wolf by Sarah Black
From: Torquere Press
Dr. Jake Miller has cut himself off from the world after having contracted HIV while whoring around in the national park bathrooms while supposedly doing his job as a Park Ranger. Seems the jerk gave HIV to his wife too who is not happy with him over this fact. Out of his three kids his daughter Lisa is the only one that will still talk to him, the wife and his two sons will have nothing to do with him. I wonder why?
Unfortunately Lisa decides to run off to help a troubled family of wolves in the nearby Gila National Forest. Her college professor Dr. Nathaniel Briggs calls Jake up to get his help in finding her. Turns out Dr. Briggs is also HIV+ having contracted it from his lover who later committed suicide.
If you think for a minute this is a light hearted romp of a Gay Romance I have some Russian novels I can review that will leave you in stitches.
This is an early story by Sarah Black and once I read the blurb for this one I knew I had to read it. Let’s just get this out there. I have been HIV+ since 1989 so this story was just begging for me to read it.
Jake rubbed down between his eyes. Was he getting a migraine? He needed to take some aspirin before they left.
“She telling everyone?”Nathaniel shook his head. “I don’t think so. Besides, people are so wrapped up in their own pain, you know?” He shrugged. “They don’t have room for anyone else’s burdens.”
Jake got to work on his breakfast again. “What did she…?”
Nathaniel got up and went to the stove, poured another cup of coffee. “I think she only told me, Jake. And she told me that you picked up HIV somewhere, and nobody knew you were sleeping with men until you gave HIV to her mother, who is dying because of it. And the rest of the family, and all of your friends, have ostracized you. You’ve put yourself into voluntary exile, in punishment for your sins.”Jake nodded, his food abandoned. “That’s about the size of it.”
This was the first warning sign. I love imperfect heroes with dark pasts and guilt. This however is not much in the past here. In fact, it is still going on and he seems pretty comfortable with his daughter running around the campus telling everyone his life story.
That sucks in my book. I would smack her one just for making my HIV status the topic of her conversations but add in the whole betrayal thing and man. I would be most angry with her.
Jake nodded, a little reluctantly. “I am, because I’m sure there’s a reason I should be. I just can’t imagine what that reason might be. I keep thinking I’ll figure it out, why I need to keep living. They’ll lose the life insurance if I shoot myself. I don’t know. And Lisa’s mother is not dying, unless she’s dying of spite. She’s taking the medicine, too, and enjoying being a feminist martyr. I’ve ruined her life several other times before this. But giving her HIV, that was a big one, no question.”
As I was saying, I love dark imperfect heroes but not one that calls the mother of his three children a “feminist martyr” because she happens to be a little pissed at him over his betrayal of their wedding vows and the little fact he gave her a terminal illness. How am I supposed to want to see this jerk in a new relationship? This is a Gay Romance right?
“I know this is awkward for you, Jake. I’m sorry. I know so much about you, so much personal stuff, and you didn’t have any say in it. I feel like you’re a really private person, and the dog just got into the laundry basket and dragged your dirty underwear out into the middle of the living room.”
Jake smiled. “I think I’m just used to being alone. I’ve never taken my medicine in front of anyone else, not even Lisa. My ex-wife, now, she probably takes her AZT with a video camera rolling.”
“What do you mean? Come help me with this firewood.” They walked back over to the downed tree and started breaking the smaller branches over their knees and feeding them into the fire.
“She tried to convince the DA to arrest me for attempted murder. She’s video-documenting the course of her illness and death, in case they ever change their mind and decide to toss my sorry ass in jail.”
Nathaniel looked up, surprised. “Are you kidding? Why does she think you gave her HIV, anyway? Maybe she gave it to you.”
“I don’t think so. I never saw her when I was out trolling the park for a quick blow job. Besides, we were just acting out our assigned roles, you know what I mean? Our lives have been set in stone since we were teenagers.”
Nathaniel shook his head. “Tell me.”“I was seventeen. Her mother called me to get over there quick, the rabbit had died. I walked into her house. Gail had flung herself face down on the sofa, sobbing like Scarlett O’Hara. Her father’s glowering from the corner, balling his hands into fists. Her best friend’s perched next to her, stroking her hair and making all these soothing little noises. And that’s what it’s been like between us since. She’s the victim, I’m the asshole who ruined her life. So it was really no big surprise for either of us when I gave her HIV.”
“Trolling the park for a blow job? That sounds real lonely, Jake.”
Jake turned away, and his voice sounded like he was strangling. “That’s what I really regret. I can’t get it out of my mind. I think about those guys. Some of them were so young, and I didn’t even know their names, most of the time. Tad, Todd, I never cared. I hope I didn’t make any of those guys sick.” He cleared his throat and looked up.
“If we don’t get this fire going and change the subject pronto, you’re gonna be eating peanut butter crackers for supper.”
What The Fuck? Hey! Wow, wait a second!
First off this jerk, this doctor, this scum bag, has no fucking clue there are these things called condoms available over the counter at most corner 7/11s? Is protection from pregnancy and STDs the little woman’s job in his opinion? I mean, with that “feminist martyr” crap he is spouting I get the feeling that Dr. Jake Miller is a chauvinistic PIG FROM HELL. Not to mention all the self hate he displays for only a brief mention of all the men he probably infected also. All those men he was so hot for when he should have been home taking care of his wife and kids.
The first kid was a mistake. I can handle that. The second kid and the third kid were what? Forced on him by the eeeeevil bitch that trapped him into marriage? This with his continued harping on how she is somehow overreacting to HIS betrayal of their marriage, HIS giving her a terminal illness, and HIS public shaming of her by having “come out” in such a fucked up way.
Altogether this guy is a royal fucking jerk. At no time in this whole story does he admit just once he should have talked to her and been honest about the fact he was bi-sexual (The kids… I mean three, come on, catch a clue.) or gay *snort*. At no time does Jake really state he is responsible for the mess his life has become. Again and again I get this feeling he sees himself as yet another unfortunate victim when he chose to act in the way he did. There is no personal responsibility here for his own actions, no feeling that he honestly regrets anything but getting HIV and getting caught. Otherwise he feels he is spotless. What an asshole!
Let’s look up the definition of Involuntary Manslaughter for shits and giggles, shall we? (an unintentional killing but with a willful disregard for life) Oh yeah, I think Jake with his little “Condom? What’s a condom?” problem needs to be a little less nonchalant when it comes to the legal ramifications of his irresponsible sex practices. If she dies he could fall under this in a court of law. He most likely will not, but he could, it is possible. Where is the motivation here for him to change his love of strange sex in bathrooms with other men when he figures out he is not going to die tomorrow? I think he will not, not with the drinking and the denial and I hate to think he probably will infect others eventually.
Do not get me wrong after ten years in the Navy I can handle the fact male sexuality is not black and white. That due to our culture’s prejudiced nature married men suppress their sexual attraction towards other men all the time and in doing so find relief in the local public restrooms and parks. Hell, I have even been there. But… I do not lie to myself. I take responsibility for my own actions and try to live my life so I have as few regrets as possible. Not disavow my mistakes like this guy is doing and blame peoples negative reactions towards me on some stupid conservative pablum like a gay Rush Limbaugh. If I know they have a good reason to hate me, I will freely admit it has nothing to do with my being gay or HIV or whatever. If I make a mistake I try my best not to depend on shaky justifications and face the truth.
Grade D. For the simple fact I could not possibly ever want to see this asshole fuck anyone else over in another relationship with the admitted lies and demeaning attitude towards women he displays. It shows there are probably other deeper issues that simply do not make him a prize catch for anyone gay or straight.
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