What I Am Reading ~ Josh Lanyon: The Dark Horse
March 11, 2008
The Politics Of Dancing
January 23, 2008
I was trying to put my thoughts together on a review I am doing of Amber Green’s Bareback. Then it occurred to me that I would probably spend the entire review simply relating an issue I have with some Gay Romances in general when it comes to using the old Straight To Gay Male Character Story Arc. Read more
Claire Thompson: The Perfect Cover
January 16, 2008
The Perfect Cover by Claire Thompson
New dueling review Read more
What I Am Reading ~ Claire Thompson: The Perfect Cover
January 8, 2008
Torch Song Trilogy: Mirror Dialog Scene
December 29, 2007
People might argue with me on this movie being truly romantic since there is a tragedy planted right smack dab in the middle of this damn thing that will make you cry every friggin time. Hey, the horrible truth here is every gay man has to eventually face the fact that slowly and most assuredly he is gradually turning into Harvey Fierstein in a wig.
All together now… But not Enough!
Add this to your Netflix Queue. Enjoy!
Tags: Gay Romance, MoviesWhat I Am Reading ~ J.M. Snyder: Summer Kisses & Ice Cream Dreams
October 12, 2007
Summer Kisses & Ice Cream Dreams by J.M. Snyder
From: Aspen Mountain Press
His name is Andrew. He looks at me dead on, then clears his throat and shrugs. “Something warm and sweet,” he says, his gaze burning into me. “With lots of cream.” He turns to Chad. “You have anything like that?”
God.
Chad frowns at the menu. “Well…”
If he tells them about the hot fudge sundaes, I’ll just die. Warm and sweet, lots of cream. And he’s already got a girl? Damn.
“How about a hot fudge sundae? Perfect way to end a perfect day, don’t you think?”
I roll my eyes. Of course, I have to work for Mr. Comedian. Andrew stands there smiling because he knows he wasn’t talking about the sundaes, and he knows I know he wasn’t talking about ice cream…hell, from the smirk on her face even his girl knows what he’s talking about, and if I wasn’t already hiding in the corner behind the soda fountain, I’d sink into the floor and just disappear.
My knees are weak from that pale gaze, that deep voice, and any moment now I could melt away like chocolate. I imagine myself as chocolate beneath his hands, melting into his touch, moaning his name, his lips like cherries on my skin, his tongue a swirl of sensation across my body.
Tony’s as oblivious as Chad. “Fudge sounds good.”
Andrew shrugs as I shake ice from my drink into my mouth. “Maybe I’ll go for something hard,” he says. The ice cracks loudly between my teeth when I bite down on it.
Tony frowns. “You want something warm and hard?”
Damn it to hell, I’m blushing, I know it, flushed and red—I’m not prepared for this. Any other night I’d flirt back; it’s summer and there are a million guys on the boardwalk, but this one makes me ache as if I’m waking from a good dream, one I don’t want to lose in the daylight. If he didn’t have a girl with him, if the Romano kid wasn’t here, if Chad wasn’t here, maybe I’d flirt back. If I could even look at him and remember how to speak.
Tony squints at the menu and has the audacity to ask, “You want a Popsicle or something?” Looking around Andrew, he asks the girl, “You want to split a sundae with me, Lori?”
“Sure.” She ducks out from under Andrew’s arm and, with a twitch of her hip, bumps him over as she squeezes in between her friends, edging him closer to my end of the counter. “Move over.” Andrew complies, sliding down a little, down towards me.
To Chad she says, “We’ll get a sundae then, and give this boy something hard to suck on.”
This title needs more cow bell!
Tags: Aspen Mountain Press, Gay, Gay Romance, J. M. SnyderAmanda Young: Taboo Desires
September 1, 2007
Taboo Desires by Amanda Young
From: Samhain
The downstairs lights blinked on, illuminating the stairwell and the foyer where he was still kneeling in front of Eric. Cole blinked, his eyes trying to adjust to the sudden change. “What the fuck?” Eric gasped and hastily stuffed himself back into his jeans. “Who is—?”
A loud gasp sounded from below, right before he heard a shrill female voice scream, “Oh my God!”
He knew that voice. Cole turned, his movements slow as molasses, and saw Karen standing at the bottom of the landing, her eyes wide and a splayed hand covering the lower half of her face.
“Shit!” Cole scrambled to his feet.
Karen dropped her hand, her expression twisting from hurt to pissed off in the blink of an eye. “You bastard. How long have you been fucking him behind my back? No wonder you didn’t want to get married.”
“Karen, wait.”
She shook her head, her long blonde hair whipping from side to side, and hurried away in the opposite direction. Cole started after her, only to be pulled up short by Eric’s voice.
“Cole, what the hell is going on? Who is that woman?”
He looked back over his shoulder, his gaze connecting with Eric’s guileless blue eyes, while his head filled with white noise. There was no fast and easy answer for that, so he said the only thing that came to mind, “That’s Karen,” before dashing down the stairs after her.
* * *
Long after Cole disappeared downstairs and the loud crack of the back door slamming echoed up to him, Eric remained immobile. Cole’s parting words replayed again and again inside his head. That’s Karen. As if that was supposed to explain everything?
Anger, hot and heavy, pulled him from his catatonic state. Who the hell did Cole think he was, bringing Eric home with him, sucking his brains out through his cock, despite the fact that he had a girlfriend? Or was it fiancée? Hadn’t she said something about a wedding?
Jesus. He sure knew how to pick men, didn’t he? Unfortunately, this time around, he had no one to blame but himself. Cole had all the classic signs of someone locked in the closet, Eric just hadn’t wanted to recognize them for what they were. He was a fucking idiot.
Eric leaned forward and flipped up the light switch. A bulb winked on overhead, illuminating the area around him, and cast dim fingers of light into the two adjoining rooms to either side.
To his left sat a small kitchen. He could only just make out part of the fridge and the corner of a waist-high counter from where he stood. He didn’t care to see more of the kitchen, so he turned toward the room to his right. There he found an equally tiny living room, barely large enough to hold the matching black leather love seat and recliner, and a small black lacquered entertainment center.
Well, he had two choices. He could go into the living room and have a seat, or he could leave. Eric glanced at the door, still standing open, and considered leaving before Cole returned. He didn’t know of any way out of the building except the one he’d been shown on the way in, where the happy couple were undoubtedly fighting right that very minute, so he chose to sit and wait. Facing Cole seemed like the lesser of two evils. Besides, running away also smacked of cowardice and he wasn’t a damn coward. He faced his problems head on and this time would be no different. He would stay, listen to whatever lame excuse Cole came up
with, and then calmly tell him exactly what he could do with his wandering cock, specifically that he could shove it up his own ass and rotate on it until Hell froze over.
As much as he would’ve liked to give Cole the benefit of the doubt, the evidence was not leaning in his favor. Even if Cole hadn’t been using him for some kind of bi-curious experiment, he was still a cheater and, as far as Eric was concerned, a slimeball. Without his knowledge or consent, Cole had made him into the other woman…man, whatever. That pissed him off. He was not going to be someone’s dirty little secret.
Cole Winchester’s girlfriend Karen kicks his ass out of the house finally after two years of him leading her on in a loveless relationship. All those years she has invested in them becoming a couple are a lie just to hide the fact the man is a fucking fag. So two weeks after this event Cole still has not confessed to her and officially ended their relationship he hooks up with poor Eric the Gay guy of his dreams. When they stumble in the door getting all ready to get hot and nasty the excerpt above takes place.
Run Eric! Run the fuck away! It’s not cowardice. You do not need this drama.
Here’s a little Gay Man 101 for you. Men found to be living in “a closet” by mature Gay Men are not considered “a great catch”. One night stands sure but real relationship material. HELL NO!
Charles Pierce once said “It’s better to be black than gay because when you’re black you don’t have to tell your mother.”
The point being that coming out and admitting to yourself and others is a walk through a field of land mines and requires survival tactics that have to be learned. From your own family, to the place you work, to the relationship you have with another man, it takes years to find the experience necessary to handle just this one piece of your life. I tend to call this process “Gay Years”.
The basic concept is the lower the “Gay Years” the higher the chance a relationship with this man will fail thus the greater need for discussion, for finding out how emotionally stable and strong and trustworthy this person is. In other words the same amount of caution as say a 40 year old would have falling for a 20 year old. Sweet idea but the reality can be a bitch.
The other part of the story is that when you first come out Gay it is like a kid in a candy store and everyone needs time to try all the flavors and types available. Sex, drugs, booze and sex and sex… and well you get the idea. Every one needs the time to grow up and find what they want in life as a gay man even if the person comes out at age 40 you still treat them like the teenagers they will become shortly and wait for them to catch on.
There are couples I have met where the guys were sexually involved while one of them was married or considered himself bisexual. The maturity in that case is obviously questionable because then one of them had to be lying to himself or others while he was living this other life right? Even when I do not talk about BDSM I am all about the trust.
So what did I think when Amanda Young wrote this about Cole’s thoughts in regards to something our experienced Gay guy Eric says close to the end of her story?
The wealth of meaning behind his words rang out loud and clear. It was too soon to make declarations of love, for either of them, but Eric’s words told him he was cared for all the same.
Unlikely! Just wait till Eric walks out that door never to return after getting his piece of ass for all that emotional bullshit you put him through last night. You got played!
Grade F for failed the reality check.
Tags: Amanda Young, Gay, Gay Romance, Grade F, Samhain PublishingWhat 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.
What I Am Reading ~ D.J. Manly: My Father’s Lover
May 15, 2007
D.J. Manly: My Father’s Lover
From: Loose-Id
Tags: D.J. Manly, Gay, Gay Romance, Loose-IdWhen a female impersonator and owner of drag club is murdered, his will specifies that his estranged son, Michael, will have to co-manage his club for a specific period of time, or forfeit his inheritance.
Anthony, the son of his heart, who he took in off the street, has always loathed Michael for rejecting his father’s advances. When Anthony learns Michael is coming for the will reading, his opinion of the man as a gold-digger is confirmed.
Michael, on the other hand, has no idea who Anthony is. One look at the gorgeous young man, and he assumes the worst. It’s no better when he learns that Anthony had been taken in by his father and his father’s late lover. Anthony can be nothing more than a manipulative whore, his father’s much younger lover.
The only thing hotter than their hatred is their lust. And Michael’s father has assured that they will have to work together.
Marty Rayne: A Master’s Love
May 14, 2007
A Master’s Love by Marty Rayne
From: Loose-Id
“Why are you here, Kyle?”Another shiver ran down Kyle’s spine at the sound of his name. The tone was soft and near adoration, but he knew better. It was this man’s job to make his clients feel good about themselves, to feel needed, to feel whatever that particular person wanted to feel. Sydney had been very clear about what they did here at Angel’s Heart.
Kyle studied Nate’s laid-back posture and wished he could be as comfortable. Nate was sitting back in the chair, one ankle propped on the opposite knee with his fingers laced together in his lap. He looked almost disinterested, but Kyle could discern a sparkle to Nate’s eyes that contradicted his aloof appearance.
“I’m not really sure,” Kyle answered truthfully. “I’m hoping that you can help me. I’m curious about the relationship between Dominants and submissives. I’m wondering if I’m a submissive.”
In Marty Rayne’s latest book, A Master’s Love from Loose-Id, Kyle Turner at the urging of a mutual friend goes to see Nate Jacobs “The Dom for hire” at a posh New York BDSM club. Kyle tells Nate he wants to “Find out if he is a submissive”. You definitely get the feeling from Kyle’s introduction that he has had several unsuccessful attempts at a “vanilla” Gay relationship and he is exploring the potentials of a Gay relationship based on the exchange of power found in BDSM.
So Kyle and Nate embark on a series of “BDSM therapy sessions” aimed at discovering if Kyle “really” is submissive. Unfortunately most of the sessions simply involve Kyle kneeling or laying around answering Nate’s various questions. I was amused by all this since from my experience the last place I would go for any type of “therapy” involving relationship issues or emotional baggage would be a BDSM scene. I did come to understand relationship dynamics better after being involved in BDSM but I already had a significant amount of self exploration under my belt to begin with. I find people do not tend to just “show up” suddenly to get into being flogged.
Anyway, Kyle and Nate do all these really boring scenes together where nothing much happens except Nate “The Dom for hire” gets all angst ridden over Kyle “The confused submissive” because he is unable to maintain this “professional distance”. His cock says yes, but the employee handbook says no, THE ANGST! Eventually their mutual friend sets them up to meet in public where they very quickly jump each others bones and end up having sex in a public restroom.
I thought that the public restroom sex was pretty hot but the writer starts hinting that Kyle “The confused submissive” was all sexually aggressive towards Nate and that was a good thing and so hot for Nate “The Dom for hire”. Hold on, did Kyle not go to “The Dom for hire” to find out if he was “really” submissive? I mean, if he is not “really” submissive and Nate realizes this at this point… Is Nate just milking Kyle for his money if he intends to see him again professionally? Oh Kyle, I thought you said you tried it this way, the sexually aggressive stuff, and it was a problem…
I start scratching my head really hard and wondering where the writer is going here.
This was completely out of his league. He could easily seduce a man or woman to do his will; he’d had years to perfect that. But Kyle was more than a client. Kyle, he found out from Sydney, came to him out of curiosity, of his own free will. The discovery that Kyle held more of a dominant nature than he’d originally thought was intriguing. Nate was impressed with Kyle’s strength, to allow someone to dominate him completely for the length of their sessions and still follow all the rules set for him. Those who were truly submissive rarely exhibited the dominance that Kyle had shown at the club, which only attracted Nate more.
WTF? Um no, “truly submissive” people do not sexually enjoy being dominant at all and “truly dominant” people do not find it “attractive” if the submissive attempts to be dominant with them. Don’t blame me for pointing that out. I did not use the term “truly”, you did. Frankly, I as the reader, am getting even more confused with the use of BDSM terminology in this story and I do not understand where it is going at all.
Then at last, Kyle and Nate decide to quit doing the “really” boring “BDSM therapy sessions” and get on with their growing sexually confused attraction for each other. I breath a sigh of relief that the HEA will be over soon and I can get back to waiting for the next Joey Hill book.
Then the writer backhands me with this…
He and Kyle still had fun with the Master/sub roles, but it was only that. Play. Something to keep from falling into the ruts many couples faced. It also gave them room to experience new adventures together. Nate’s role as a Dominant had played a big part in bringing the two together, but it wasn’t the focus of their life. They respected each other as equals and had found a happy home together, filling the voids that had once plagued them.
So Nate was not “really” a Top and Kyle was not “really” a submissive and they head off into the HEA sunset “not solving” one god damn thing the book started off telling us they had issues with. Kyle came to Nate dissatisfied with “Vanilla relationships” and being “The confused submissive”, on the other hand Nate started the book happy to be alone and doing his BDSM “The Dom for hire” thing that he supposedly was very good at and “really” into.
Um yeah…
Oh, I get it, the only way Gay men can have a “happy”, “healthy”, relationship is if they “respect each other as equals” and only “play” at BDSM.
Good god! Does anyone get that the biggest illusion for any relationship is this stupid idea of “equality in all things”?
If anything I have learned from BDSM is that there are constant inequalities in any relationship and you have to negotiate and compromise all the fucking time. Two very competitive males trying to provide for each other in a Gay male relationship gets pretty hairy and the stepping on of toes occurs more often than not leading to all sorts of problems and issues. Implying that being “equal” is the ideal way to true happiness when there is always someone in the relationship making more money, or is more sexually aggressive, or someone better at cleaning house or someone more capable of paying the bills and balancing the checkbook… Does that sound like a realistic expectation to anyone?
Well damn it, real life is never that easy, it can never be that planned out no matter how many how-to books you read, and the best thing to do is to learn to maintain clear communications… another lesson taught to me by my involvement in BDSM.
So I do not “get” this book at all or what the point of dragging BDSM into it was all about if in the end the characters were not “really” what we thought they were, “the problems” were not really “the problems” we were told they had.
I definitely came away from this book feeling kind of insulted.
Grade D, as in Depressing.
What do others think…
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