Tag: M/M romance

Stacking the Shelves (59)

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

A relatively short stack this week. After the Gay Romance Northwest Meetup last week, I decided to finally read the Cut & Run series by Roux and Urban, because everyone always said the series was awesome. I’ve got the whole series on hold at the library, but of course my holds are arriving in a very strange order. (I also was not the only person with this brilliant idea when we bought the series last month) Eventually the first book will come in.

Meanwhile…

Stacking the Shelves September 21 2013 Reading Reality

For Review:
Hell’s Belle (Hell’s Belle #1) by Karen Greco
Marry Me, Cowboy (Copper Mountain Rodeo #2) by Lillian Darcy
Promise Me, Cowboy (Copper Mountain Roder #3) by C.J. Carmichael
The Scandal in Kissing an Heir (At the Kingsborough Ball #2) by Sophie Barnes
The Tropic of Serpents (Memoir by Lady Trent #2) by Marie Brennan
Work In Progress by Christina Esdon

Purchased:
Armed and Desired (1Night Stand) by D.C. Stone

Borrowed from the Library:
Mage’s Blood (Moontide Quartet #1) by David Hair
Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run #6) by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
Sticks & Stones (Cut & Run #2) by Abigail Roux

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-15-13

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Sunset on Summer Fun Blog Hop> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

Sunday Post

Yesterday turned out to be pretty splendiferous, once the butterflies in my stomach settled down.

Gay Romance Northwest Meet-up LogoI was the Keynote Speaker at the Gay Romance Northwest Meetup yesterday. The conference, and it was very much a writers and readers conference, was held at the Seattle Public Library’s Central Library. The last I heard, the paid attendance was 120, but they were definitely taking at-the-door registration, so there were more people there.

My topic was getting what you want into your local library, or working with your local library to get what you wrote onto the physical or virtual shelves. The Q&A session ran over!!! There’s a very nice summary here, even if I feel funny about being the unnamed librarian.

I stayed for the whole thing. Besides the fact that I got questions and comments at every break and at the happy hour afterwards, this was an awesome event. Also, and one of the interesting things, as far as the writing and breaking into publishing, and questions about diversity and the lack thereof, many of the questions and answers were not dissimilar to things I’d heard at WorldCon a couple of weeks ago.

Becoming a writer and getting published is damn difficult. Period, exclamation point. Diversity is a journey and not a destination. Respectability is something that no genre fiction seems to have achieved, although mystery seems to be closer (for relative definitions of close) than anything else, and LGBTQ romance gets hit with a double-whammy of being both LGBTQ and romance.

One thing struck me, one of the authors (Daisy Harris) said that she wrote m/m romance because it allowed her to write couples who did not follow the alpha male/submissive female paradigm that she had been forced to follow when she wrote traditional m/f romance. Last night I was reading something that I wasn’t planning to review, but it was a couple where the dominant male/submissive female roles should not have occurred, and damn but they did anyway. I’m having a major re-think here.

I hope I get invited back next year.

But back to what else happened this week…

Current Giveaway:

Tourwide Giveaway: $15 Amazon Gift Card + 2 ebook copies of Medium Well by Meg Benjamin

Hellfire by Jean JohnsonBlog Recap:

B+ Review: The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King
A- Review: Hellfire by Jean Johnson
B Review: Tempt Me, Cowboy by Megan Crane
B Review: Medium Rare by Meg Benjamin + Giveaway
B Review: The Arrangement by Mary Balogh
Stacking the Shelves (58)

Sunset on Summer Fun Blog HopComing Next Week:

A Question of Honor by Charles Todd (review)
The Bridge by Rebecca Rogers Maher (review)
Knight in Black Leather by Gail Dayton (review)
Dangerous Curves Ahead by Sugar Jamison (review)
Sunset on Summer Fun Blog Hop

Review: Long Shots 1-3 by Christine d’Abo

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Long Shots Books 1-3 by Christine d'AboFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: Contemporary erotic romance
Series: Long Shots, #1-3
Length: 244 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: September 3, 2012 (collection)
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Welcome to Pulled Long café, where the coffee is hot, and the sex is hotter! Meet your hosts:

Sadie Long has been lusting after her friend Paul for years, and when she visits him at Mavericks, the sex club where he works, she’s suddenly fantasizing about being with Paul and his sexy boss Josh—at the same time.

Paige Long can’t help but be attracted to gorgeous firefighter Carter, especially once she learns he’s a Dom. But can she trust in her own desires and submit to happiness?

Ian Long doesn’t want to be the rebound guy for a brokenhearted man—even after a little exhibitionist play with Jeff satisfies desires he didn’t even know he had…

Anthology includes Double Shot, A Shot in the Dark and Pulled Long.

My Review:

The Long Shots series of erotic romances by Christine d’Abo center around the cafe, bakery and catering business with the wonderfully punny name “Pulled Long” and the sex club across the street with the equally evocative name, “Mavericks”.

The Long siblings own Pulled Long. Sadie runs the baking and catering, Ian does the coffee, and Paige manages the business end of things. In spite of the long hours and the extremely early mornings, it’s way better than their old day jobs used to be. But the one thing that running their own business doesn’t do is leave any of them much time for a love life. Or even much of an occasional sex life. And that’s where Mavericks comes in to each of their lives.

Ahem.

Double Shot by Christine d'AboSadie’s story, Double Shot, is basically a hotter than average friends-into-lovers story with a threesome as the opening sex act. Or possibly as the handoff. That works better than it sounds. Double Shot is really a classic story, with a kinky twist. Sadie and Paul have been best friends for years, because they met when he dated her BFF. By the time it would have been okay for her to go after him, the friendship was too good to risk. Ten years later, the seemingly unrequited lust is driving her insane! Of course she has no idea he’s in the same bad way, until he hands her a major catering job at Mavericks, and the costume to go with it.

While in one sense, the climax of the story is the threesome between Sadie, Paul and Josh, the owner of Mavericks, it really is Sadie and Paul’s romance. Josh is there to make sure the two lovebirds don’t chicken out on the way to their happily ever after, not that he doesn’t enjoy himself. But it’s bittersweet for him because he’s definitely giving his best friend away to someone who will monopolize his attention. Josh is doing the right thing for the right reasons but he’s closing a chapter in his own life. (d’Abo gets back to Josh in Calling the Shots.)

Escape Rating for Double Shot: B

Shot in the Dark by Christine d'AboOldest sister Paige Long is the one most involved with Mavericks. Or at least she used to be. A Shot in the Dark is the story of Paige taking back control of her life by finding someone with whom she can give up control in the bedroom. Paige, who is the business manager for Pulled Long, is a submissive in the BDSM scene who has been unable to let herself acknowledge that her first and last Dom was an abusive asshat who slapped her around and ignored her needs and boundaries.

So this is a story about love and trust. It’s also very steamy. But what this story does is let the reader take a walk into Paige’s lifestyle in a way that makes the BDSM aspects about the romance and not the titillation for titillation’s sake. Even if it’s not the reader’s cuppa tea, you leave the story seeing why it’s Paige’s. And cheering when the asshat gets his head handed to him by the man who turns out to be the right man (and Dom) for her.

Escape Rating for A Shot in the Dark: B

Pulled Long by Christine d'AboFinally, Ian’s story. He’s last because he never lets himself take any time off from the store. He works extra long hours so he really doesn’t have time for a love life. His story even has the same title as the name of their shop, Pulled Long. And his lover had to walk into the store, because Ian lives above the shop. There wasn’t anywhere else they could have met.

Ian’s fallen for a man he only knows as “Blue Eyes” for eight months. He’s a customer that Ian flirts with, talks with, but can’t manage to cajole a name out of. It’s a game they play. Jeff knows perfectly well that Ian is asking for his name, but he’s enjoying the game too. And he’s waiting for his divorce to be final before he starts dating anyone else. And that’s the problem. When Ian discovers that Jeff is finalizing his divorce, Ian breaks off their game. He’s been a straight guy’s rebound experiment before, and he does not want to go through that heartache again. Jeff knows perfectly well that he’s not straight, he’s bi, and right now, he wants to pursue a relationship with Ian because he really enjoys the friendship they’ve developed and wants to find out how far it can go. But between Ian’s long-term guilt issues, insecurity issues, and Jeff’s mistrust issues, there’s a question whether they can manage to take their relationship beyond some very hot one-night stands in risky places, or whether they’re both too screwed up to work out the best thing that’s ever happened.

Escape Rating for Pulled Long: B+

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Review: Slam by J.L. Merrow

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews> Guest Review
Slam by J.L. MerrowFormats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 275 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: April 9, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Limericks, lies, and puppy-dog eyes…

Jude Biggerstaff is all the way out and loving it—mostly. The Anglo-Japanese university graduate is a carnivore working in a vegan café, an amateur poet with only one man in his life. His dog, Bubbles.

Then there’s “Karate Crumpet”, a man who regularly runs past the café with a martial arts class. Jude can only yearn from afar, until the object of his affection rescues him from muggers. And he learns that not only does this calm, competent hunk of muscle have a name—David—but that he’s gay.

Jude should have known the universe wouldn’t simply let love fall into place. First, David has only one foot out of the closet. Then there’s Jude’s mother, who lies about her age to the point Jude could be mistaken for jailbait.

With a maze of stories to keep straight, a potential stepfather in the picture, ex-boyfriends who keep spoiling his dates with David, and a friend with a dangerous secret, Jude is beginning to wonder if his and David’s lives will ever start to rhyme.

Warnings: Contains a tangled web of little white lies, a smorgasbord of cheesy limericks, a violin called Vanessa, some boots that mean business, and the most adorable little dog ever. Poetry, it’s not…

Guest Review by Cryselle

After that blurb, the question isn’t what happens, it’s how. And it’s fun.

Stream of consciousness barely contained, that’s Jude. He’s flamboyant, funny, and when he bleeds internally, he bandages it with another joke. He’s head over heels for David, but what doesn’t go strange in one way goes strange in another. JL Merrow has “frequently been accused of humor” and this story earns her the shaky finger again, in the best way.

Opposites—Jude looks like Gok Wan, only prettier and gayer, and David’s so butch Jude’s not sure he’s gay—the man hasn’t seen a musical in years, and likes watching football. David’s got reason—he works construction in the management end of the business, but he’s not out at work and doesn’t plan to be any time soon. We don’t have any scenes from his POV, but that’s okay, Jude can rattle along for three.

Emitting limericks at irregular intervals to express his anxiety or frustration, Jude keeps us smiling, even when we’d like to whap him for withholding pertinent information from David. Granted, it seems rational at the time, but it does create a sequence of Big Misunderstandings. I can’t summarize better than this brief sequence, where Jude and David have gone on their first real date. Rescuing Jude from some gay-bashers isn’t exactly social life after all.

He shrugged. “I’ve never really been into gay bars. I’d rather go to a normal pub. Uh, does that come off as a bit homophobic?”

I swallowed my last mouthful of saltimbocca. “Yeah, but I’ll let you off because (a) you’re gorgeous and (b) I think my mouth just had an orgasm.” Dreamily, I put down my fork. “Although on second thoughts, that’s not a great mental picture when you’ve just eaten. We have got to come here again.”

“If you like. I’m still hoping to persuade you to try the raw fish at TTY.”

Oops. That again. I bit my lip. Should I come clean and tell him it was all to do with Stinky Cheese Guy? He’d understand, and then we could have a laugh about it…

I grimaced. Yeah, right. Because it’s always so attractive, finding the guy you’re out with is still hung up on his Evil Ex.

David laughed. “Why do I get the impression I just missed a whole conversation taking place in your head?”

That last sentence—really important.

The supporting characters shore everything up nicely: best gal pal Keisha keeps Jude grounded and provides a sharp foil for his wit, and Mom is a hoot. Mom has a younger boyfriend and a couple of secrets, which slop onto Jude and incidentally demonstrate that he comes by his talent for complications honestly.

In fact, everyone seems to have some way to affect everyone else, and it’s to the author’s credit that this crazy quilt of plot points winds up so neatly. Secrets and confessions fall out of the closet like improperly stored skeletons, and it all winds up as a big AW! in several directions, in spite of the epidemic of foot-in-mouth disease.

The title applies to Jude’s participation in slam poetry fests, where poets recite their work as performance art and are graded by how they affect their audiences. It’s not a huge plot aspect unless it’s needed—this story is more character driven than plot driven, aside from the eventual boy-gets-boy. The limericks are spice rather than meal. I’m very partial to external plot, of which this is rather short: the external elements are subservient to the relationship, and the title theme is nearly invisible for most of the book.

All in all, this is a sweet feel-good-eventually of a story. The Brit flavor is undiluted, not impenetrable to American readers, and is a wonderful antidote to stories where the English charm has been genericized away. If you’re in the mood for flamboyant, funny, British characters and situations, this is the story for you.

Escape rating: B+

Cryselle can regularly be found blogging and reviewing at Cryselle’s Bookshelf.

Stacking the Shelves (41)

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

This is two-weeks’ worth of shelf-stacking. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Again.

However, a quite possibly germane post appeared this week at All About Romance titled Hoarders: The TBR Episode? While I can cheerfully say that I do not have 600 print books in my house labelled “TBR”, I have to confess that I do have about 200. And the low number isn’t because I’ve restrained myself, it’s because I switched to ebooks over two years ago, so I have lots of TBR ebooks, they just don’t take up nearly as much space!

Stacking the shelves April 13 2013

For Review: (ebooks unless noted)
Antiagon Fire (Imager Portfolio #7) by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
The Brazen Amazon (Alliance of the Amazons #3) by Sandy James
Frat Boy & Toppy (Theta Alpha Gamma #1) by Anne Tenino
Hair of the Dog by Kelli Scott
Hers for the Holidays (The Berringers #2) by Samantha Hunter (print)
How Beauty Loved the Beast (Tales of the Underlight #3) by Jax Garren
Living Dangerously (Adrenaline Highs #4) by Dee J. Adams
Long Simmering Spring (Star Harbor #3) by Elisabeth Barrett
Lover Undercover by Samanthe Beck
The Original 1982 by Lori Carson
Outcast Prince (Court of Annwyn #1) by Shona Husk
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
Private Practice by Samanthe Beck
Real Men Don’t Quit (Real Men #2) by Coleen Kwan
Rules of Entanglement (Fighting for Love #2) by Gina L. Maxwell
SEAL of Honor (HORNET #1) by Tonya Burrows
Shadow People (Peter Warlock #2) by James Swain
Wounded Angel (Earth Angels #3) by Stacy Gail

Picked up at Norwescon: (all print)
Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Purchased: (all print and all graphic novels)
Dragon Age by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
Dragon Age: The Silent Grove by David Gaider, Alexander Freed and Chad Hardin
Dragon Age: Those Who Speak by David Gaider, Alexander Freed and Chad Hardin

Borrowed from the Library: (print)
The Devil’s Armor (A Novel of the Bronze Knight #2) by John Marco

Guest Review: Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews> Guest Review
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: Paperback, ebook
Genre: M/M Romance, Historical Romance
Length: 44 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Date Released: August 20, 2012
Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

Germany, 1945. The Third Reich is on its knees as Allied forces bomb Berlin to break the last resistance. Yet on an airfield near Berlin, the battle is far from over for a young mechanic, Felix, who’s attached to a squadron of fighter pilots. He’s especially attached to fighter ace Baldur Vogt, a man he admires and secretly loves. But there’s no room for love at the end of the world, never mind in Nazi Germany.

When Baldur narrowly cheats death, Felix pulls him from his plane, and the pilot makes his riskiest move yet. He takes a few days’ leave to recover, and he takes Felix with him. Away from the pressures of the airfield, their bond deepens, and Baldur shows Felix the kind of brotherhood he’d only ever dreamed of before.

But there’s no escaping the war, and when they return, Baldur joins the fray again in the skies over Berlin. As the Allies close in on the airfield where Felix waits for his lover, Baldur must face the truth that he is no longer the only one in mortal danger.

Guest Review by Cryselle

The viewpoint and setting of Skybound is truly startling: the losing side of a desperate war is bleak ground for a love story, yet here it is.

Baldur, a pilot of such skill as to make him royalty to his fellows, takes chances in the sky and on the ground. He’s an ace among aces, and Felix might love him or merely have a bad case of hero-worship.  Baldur is the one bright spot for Felix in this war—he rebuilds tattered planes enough to fly again, but the growing despair of the war is sapping him badly.

One air battle proves nearly fatal for Baldur and Felix is the one to rescue him. Felix would walk through fire for Baldur, and is overcome to be chosen as companion for the few days the war effort can spare the pilot to recover. Both anxious and hopeful, Felix isn’t sure what the few days of solitude will bring, and even when they return to the airfield, it isn’t entirely clear how deeply Baldur is invested. Sentiments like “I love you” have no place in this war, but the chances Baldur runs to be with Felix   speak loudly.

The clues to what happiness they might find in the end are scattered cleverly though the text, but it is a mixed happiness, the best they could hope for.  The tone of the story recalls parts of All Quiet on the Western Front, where ending the day with all arms and legs had to be accounted a triumph. Desperation drives Felix, both for the war and for Baldur.

The author has gone to great lengths to provide solid research and a vivid sense of time and place, not only at the airfield and in battle but in the village where they take their leave.  Knowing how this war ends provides a special poignancy to the small comforts they can take. Even the characters’ names add to the atmosphere: Baldur, named for a god whose death presaged Ragnarok, and Felix, the one small bit of happiness.

With all this care taken, it was a  jolt to repeatedly encounter a term translated literally from the German that means something entirely different and unrelated in English, and which wasn’t explained until nearly the end.  The reorienting needed to get back into the story after each use took away from the total submersion of reading. Even so, I would give this short, unusual tale a B+.

Cryselle can regularly be found blogging and reviewing at Cryselle’s Bookshelf.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Review: The Wish by Eden Winters

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews> Guest Review
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: Trade Paperback, ebook
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Series: The Wish #1
Length: 193 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Date Released: July 19, 2012
Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

At his death, Byron Sinclair left behind more than just his much older partner Alfred Anderson. The couple helped raise their respective nephews, and while Paul Sinclair and Alex Martin are now adults, they still have some growing up to do, particularly when it comes to getting along with each other.

If they refuse to be in the house at the same time, how can Alex be so sure Paul is an opportunistic suck-up with the morals of an alley cat? Paul isn’t impressed with aloof and arrogant playboy Alex, either. Both swear they know all they need to about the other–and about themselves.

Byron’s dying wish is for Alfred to help Paul and Alex see how perfect they are for each other. But when the boys stubbornly refuse to acknowledge what’s right in front of them, Byron must get creative – though it’ll be difficult without hands, or a voice, or a body….

Guest Review by Cryselle

Honest to goodness, I don’t know how Eden Winters does it—she can start a novel in a funeral home, and still produce not one love story but two, plus chuckles, groans, gasps, and tears of the happy sort as well as the sad. By the end of this story I was well and truly run through my emotions.

Byron and Alfred are one love story, though Byron appears as a young and vibrant lover only in the memories of those he left behind. Alfred, his much older life partner, always expected to be the one to go first, as befit a man nearly a generation older. In the thoughts of their nephews Paul and Alex, we see both Byron and Alfred as trailblazers for gay love and acceptance, and as men thwarted in their desire for family by law, the times, and conventions. Still, they manage to be huge influences in the lives of their nephews, though not in the same way for both youths.

Byron is an opinionated man—a little drawback like being dead and incorporeal isn’t going to keep him from achieving a last deed before leaving—such an intrusive little busybody he is! A few of his wispy nudges have the possibility of going horribly awry, but that just might get his two hard-headed nephews to talk, something for which they’re decades overdue.

Paul and Alex are two of the most stubborn men to walk the planet—Paul is bent on independence to a degree that almost requires a slap and a lesson in graciousness, while Alex can hold a notion so tightly it dies of strangulation before he can reassess it. These two have to knock heads over and over before they can come to any appreciation of each other, but ghostly Uncle Byron has ways of shaking them up that provide some giggles along the way. When they do release their assumptions, Paul and Alex are sweet, hot, and more startling to one another than any manifestation of ectoplasm could be.

We get to look at the cogs turning in Alex’s head and know the tragedies that can accompany a privileged upbringing. He’s the one who changes the most in his understanding of love, and with his new-found appreciation of Paul, he can be a bastion of strength when it’s needed. His numerous wrong assumptions are the grist for the comedy, although Paul has his share of preconceived notions to give up. Paul’s almost a little too goody-goody, until he slangs back as good as he gets.

The style is sometimes bouncy and sometimes solemn—it’s a strength of the writing that some very serious notions permeate the work but don’t bog it down. Aging, ill health, death, and surviving loss all play a role, but there’s more hope than gloom, and love absolutely triumphs over everything else. For a wonderful emotional journey, a reader couldn’t wish for better than this.

Escape Rating: A

Cryselle can regularly be found blogging and reviewing at Cryselle’s Bookshelf.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Red Hot Holiday by Anne Calhoun, K.A. Mitchell and Leah Braemel

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> B Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: Erotic Romance, Holiday Romance
Length: 262 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: December 3, 2012
Purchasing Info:Anne Calhoun’s Website, K.A. Mitchell’s Website, Leah Braemel’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

I’ll be home for Christmas…to fulfill all your dreams.

This holiday, a Mountie is determined to get her man. A widow finds a fireman who ignites her passions again. And two men unsure of their commitment discover a happily ever after—and a blindfold—under their tree. No matter your desires, this collection of three shorts is bound to treat you to all the joys of the season.

Edited by Angela James, this anthology includes:

I Need You for Christmas by Leah Braemel
Breath on Embers by Annie Calhoun
Wish List by K.A. Mitchell

All the stories in this holiday collection contain extra-spicy sex, but that wasn’t necessarily the point. Or at least it wasn’t for this reader.

I found it interesting that all three stories were about established relationships. There was no porn-without-plot here. Yes, there was a little kink, but it was really about love, and what worked for these relationships, these people.

Breath on Embers wasn’t merely my favorite story in this collection, it nearly broke my heart. This is a story about someone using noise, any kind of noise; music, work, sex, exercise, to distance herself from terrible, gnawing grief. Tess lost her husband two years ago this Christmas. For the past nine months, she’s been using FDNY Lieutenant Ronan O’Rourke as the sex part of that noise. He knows where she’s been. He lost a beloved uncle in one of the towers on 9/11. He’s lost comrades on the job. Tess makes him feel alive. He’s tired of her using him to help her deaden the pain. He knows they have more. This Christmas he’s going to prove to her that there is life on the other side of grief, if she’ll only take the first step across the yawning chasm.

This story is awesomely painful. And awesomely beautiful.

Escape Rating for Breath on Embers: A+

I Need You for Christmas is an updated version of O. Henry’s classic Christmas story, The Gift of the Magi, with a slightly kinky twist. In today’s society, what’s the biggest thing you can sacrifice for your lover? Your career? Your dreams. Ryan’s dreams were for his art. He’s a sculptor, and he’s finally starting to sell. Art is always a hit or miss proposition at best, and this is finally his “time”. Megan is a Mountie, and that’s her dream. The problem is that her dream meant 5 years being posted in Nunavut, while the death of Ryan’s parents meant that he had to stay in Toronto as guardian to his young step-siblings.  They’re going to college now. So he can leave Toronto, even if being out of civilization may cause difficulties for his career.

But Megan has had about enough of being away from Ryan. She’s been a Mountie, and she loves it, but she misses him. While she needs to serve and protect, outside of her job, she also needs the freedom of submitting to Ryan in the privacy of their bedroom.

And after the sudden death of Ryan’s parents, Ryan knows that no one’s tomorrows are guaranteed. Mounties get shot at in the Territories.

So they each plan a surprise for the other for Christmas, a surprise that should guarantee they can be together all the time. But there’s this little problem with surprises…

This story was sweet, and hot, and drives the reader crazy with wanting them to just TELL EACH OTHER already! But it’s oh so believable, that they want to be together and would do this. Terrific story.

Escape Rating for I Need You for Christmas: B+

Ryan and Megan in I Need You for Christmas were definitely into the D/s part of BDSM, but only to a certain extent, and they didn’t explicitly refer to it that way.

Jonah and Evan in Wish List by K.A. Mitchell don’t start out the story being part of the BDSM scene either, but when Jonah discovers a pair of wedding rings hidden in his boyfriend Evan’s desk drawer, he starts thinking of all the things he might like to try before he finally takes himself permanantly off the market, and in the “wish list” he makes of things he’d really, really like to experiment with, his imagination conjures up a whole LOT of BDSM ideas, with himself starring in the submissive role.

The only problem is that he can’t imagine his relatively buttoned-down, neat-and-tidy lover Evan presiding over those fantasies as the Dom. No matter how much that concept turns him on. And how much he loves Evan and wants him to be the man in his life forever.

Little does Jonah know that Evan is a dominant who has been suppressing that side of his nature, because the sex no longer interests him without an emotional component. When he finds one of Jonah’s “wish lists” after it falls out of Jonah’s pocket, Evan’s need to dominate Jonah comes roaring back to life. Jonah can have everything he wants, and Evan too, if he can just figure out how to ASK for it.

This story drove me just a little crazy, because of the communication misunderstandammits that were required to keep it going. But it was still fun.

Escape Rating for Wish List: B

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Ebook Review Central, Carina Press, September 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

Welcome to the First Anniversary Edition of Ebook Review Central!

The first issue of Ebook Review Central was published a little more than one year ago. But what it covered, well, that’s the anniversary part. Roughly this time last year, ERC started with the Carina Press titles from September 2011.

And here we are, back again, with the Carina Press titles from September 2012.

Carina Press publishes slightly fewer titles per month than they did a year ago; 15-ish now instead of 20. However, everything they publish gets reviewed. Every single title. Usually in more than one blog, and often by RT Book Reviews, or Library Journal Xpress Reviews, or both. It must help a lot to have Harlequin’s deep pockets, but that wouldn’t matter if their books weren’t consistently good. And they are.

Talking about good books, which titles did reviewers say were good this month?

Number one has to be the re-release of  Christine d’Abo’s Long Shots Books 1-3. Not just because it garnered another bunch of extremely positive reviews for the very nicely priced set, but because it got people to go back and re-review the three titles that make up the series: Double Shot, A Shot in the Dark, and Pulled Long. This series of erotic novellas is the story of the Long siblings, the coffee shop they own, and a local sex club named Mavericks. There’s one friends-into-lovers story, one BDSM story, and one male/male story to round out this set that is guaranteed to warm up a winter night.

 

Sometimes, the number of reviews makes a book a clear choice, just because so many people are talking about the book. The Reluctant Amazon by Sandy James is that kind of story. Readers loved the idea of a normal woman discovering that she is a superhero with the power to save the world, and then they (well, we) all debated the merits of the details. The story has an absolutely fantastic opening scene, and the worldbuilding shows promise. Read Tracy’s review at Tracy’s Place for the positive spin and Mandi at Smexy Books for the so-so reaction.

The third featured book this week didn’t get quite as many reviews as a couple of other titles. But, every single reviewer who reviewed this book liked it. In many cases, they liked it a LOT. No mehs. no 2/5 or DNFs. Just a lot of good feelings about a fun book.

This week’s final featured title is How to Date a Henchman by Mari Fee. It’s a fantasy romance about a  girl who works for a mysterious agency. One where she doesn’t know what’s going on in the basement. She starts finding out when she goes on a date, not with the guy who comes to visit the company, but, you guessed it, his henchman. Mayhem ensues. The biggest complaint about this story was that it was just too damn short. Everyone wanted more of the fun!

So in September 2012 for Carina we have erotic romance and superheroes. Back in September 2011 we had urban fantasy, shapeshifters and romantic suspense. Still sounds like lots of things going bump in the night to me!

We’ll be back next time with the Dreamspinner Press titles from September 2012!