Review: Uncorked

I finished reading Andew Grey’s Uncorked.

It was a bit of a let down compared to its predecessor, Bottled Up.

It was sappy in a bad way. 

I first want to start off by discussing Bobby.  Geez, he was such a drama queen.  I know he had a rough life before Sean adoped him and it was probably, understandably, traumatizing.  But come on.  And he wa salways crying about something.  I don’t want to see harsh or uncaring because abused and homeless kids is a real issue in the US, but in Boby’s case, that story was told in the previous novel.  It’s part of Bobby’s past, I get it, but I felt like it was harped on throughout the novel.  Other than having it been stated in the beginning of the novel, I wouldn’t have thought that he was almost ready to graduate college.

I didnt really have a problem with  Kenny individually.  Save for the random love scene where he dons leather pants.  That was a “where the fuck did that come from?”/”Is this turing into BSDM? (I hope not)”  I feel like Kenny’s need for control shouldve been explored more or left out.

Bobby and Kenny as a couple wore me out.  And not in a good way.  First it was “Does Kenny/Bobby feel the same way about me?”.  Obviously feeling the same way, but not acting on it made me want to bang my head against a wall.  Then when they were together it was compliment city.

“You’re amazing.”

“No, you’re amazing.”

And so on and so forth. Gag me.

I thought Bobby’s father showing up was random, but good.  It was nice that Big Mike changed and got closure with his son.  I’d like to think that in the future (within the series) that they see each other again and get to a civil relationship with each other.

I was disappointed in this sequel.  Apparently Andrew Grey wrote a third installment during NaNoWriMo (said so in his LJ)…I have no idea what it’s about, but I hope it’s about Big Mike and the Priest of the shelter he was staying at because I was totally got some vibes between those two.

Undeniable Magnetism

Shit.  It’s been a whole month since I last wrote a review.  More than a month actually; it’s December already.  But I have been reading a lot lately.

I’ve also been participating in NaNoWriMo, though I didnt finish my novel.  I intend to.

Anyways, I just finished reading  Undeniable Magnetism by Bonnie Dee.

I was originally drawn to this work because of the interracial aspect of it.  The two main characters, Simon and Jay, are black and write respectively and come from different social and economical backgrounds and upbringings.  Simon being from high society in Chicago, while Jay grew up in the inner city with his Irish family.

I though Bonnie Dee did a good, realistic job of portraying their differences– race in particular– without beating like a dead horse.  I didn’t find myself saying “okay, one’s black, the other’s white.  I get it.”  Jay’s laid back, non-sugar coating personality played well off of Simon’s straight-laced personality.  The sex also wasnt long, raunchy or drawn out for a gazillion pages. 

All in all, the who novel was realistic and not over the top.  I could see this couple existing in real life as well as their family and friends that fill the novel and their reactions to the two being gay and an interracial couple.

 I liked it a lot.  It wasnt the greatest I’ve read, but I would read it again.  I guess if I had to give it a rate I’d give it 3.5 out of 5.

Next up:  Andrew Grey’s “Uncorked” and a couple of M/F novels.  so stay tuned.

To Have and To Hold

For once, I am writing a review about (gasp) heterosexual relationships.  I know, weird right?  Well, it’s chick-lit, which is a couple steps above romance and, I’ll admit, better.  With chick-lit (or “Women’s Literature” if you want to be less rude), there is a sense of realism.  I can easily believe the novels in this genre can happen to any woman pretty much anywhere.  Romance fiction is fantastical in a very bad, cheesy way.   At least the ones starring women as the main character.  Don’t get me wrong, M/M can be bad (read previous reviews), but I feel M/F romance has yet to have a heroine I can relate to and like.

But I digress…

I finished reading To Have and To Hold by Jane Green.  As frustrating as it was, I liked it.  As many times as a screamed at the book, I couldn’t put it down.  By clicking the link above, you find that the book is about Alice who wasted 6 years of her life married to an insecure man-child, Joe, who cheats on her repeatedly in the book with various (usually younger) women.  She leads an unhappy life being someone her husbands wants to be in London, but finds herself in a small town suburb in Connecticut. 

I’m not even going to try to be unbiased.  I hate cheaters.  When I read about them in books, I just want the female character to go Angela Bassett from Waiting to Exhale on their ass.  (If you havent seen that movie, you should rent it…or watch it on Oxygen since it seems to be playing every other week). 

Watching Alice just be in denial about her husband nightly activities with other women was frustratingly painful.  I felt bad for her, but I was also furious with her.  Even if she didn’t know her husband was cheating, she wasn’t happy at all.  I would’ve left a long time ago.  But the signs were there and she ignored them.  I wanted her to find out sooner than she did.  I wanted pain, suffering and retribution from Joe.  I wanted the second half of the book to be more about her and Harry.  I feel like Harry’s apparent feelings for her were a bit out of the blue, but you can kind of see how that happens.

I liked that the ending was happy for Alice and she finally stood on her own two feet and was strong enough to walk away.  Even though I think she’s an idiot, I did feel a bit bad for Joe’s latest victim, Josie.  Once a cheater, always a cheater in Joe’s case.

It was a good, quick read.  I ended up finishing it in less than a day and a half (if you don’t include breaks where I had to work).  Though I wish Alice would’ve wised-up sooner and have a chance to develop something with Harry (as Jane Green says, “That’s a story for another time”), I recommend this book.

Review: Cut and Run

So. 

Holy.  Shit.

That’s the first thing I thought after reading Cut & Run by dynamic duo Abigail Roux and Madeline Urban.

I know I have a list of things I love, but I love crime/mystery/whodunit novels with two opposites-attract-characters.  Cut & Run was no different.  I don’t how much I can say without giving away too much.  Having read only one of their other work, Caught Running, this was very different and unexpected.  In a good way.

The love scenes were tender and heartwarming, which is saying a lot since both characters were both pig-headed and stubborn.  The sex scenes weren’t over the top, but subtle.  What I like about Abigail and Madeline is that, from reading other works, they focus more about the characters’ emotional content than how they get off. 

However, the novel was a bit dense, which made it hard to follow at times.  Structurally, the novel was a bit daunting and a bit dizzying how the POV switched almost every other paragraph.  I did feel a sense of “oh come on, get back to the action” toward the middle of the book when the characters come back together.

Other than that, I liked it a lot.  And if their latest release, Warrior’s Cross, is as good as this one, I will definitely be getting it.

Reviews: The Assignment and Love Means…No Shame

So I read Love Means…No Shame by Andrew Grey a few days ago, but my internet was being wacky (on top of being kinda lazy), so I’m just now getting to it.  I also just finished Evangaline Anderson’s The Assignment, so I thought I’d combine the two reviews partially because they’re both going to be fairly brief.

I was excited to read Love Means…No Shame because I loved Andrew Grey’s previous book Bottled Up.  Plus, I’ve read nothing but good reviews about it.  All lot of people had an extreme emotional reaction to it.  Even Jan Irving, author of The Janitor, was in tears over it.

Now, I’m not saying I didnt like it, but LMNS didnt live up to hype.  It was lacking something I can’t put my finger on.  There wasn’t enough…something.  I guess I would’ve liked to see Eli experience more of modern life.  I know the Amish aren’t completely living in the 17th century, but I think letting Eli going into town/major city and seeing a movie or meeting people his own age like Joey, the partime worker.  Something.  I also wanted him to be gone longer from his community than a few months, because it really felt like a few weeks in the novel.

Though I do agree that the one of the aunt’s was a bitch, having everyone call her that made the dialogue feel out of flow.  I hope that makes sense.  

Ultimately, I think that LMNS would have been better had its prequel, Love Means…Courage, came out first.  I have a feeling though, reading the blurb and getting hints through the novel, that LMC isn’t going to sync up with LMNS.

***

I am slowly beginning to love Evangeline Anderson.  Ever since reading Str8te Boys and learning of the game “Gay Chicken” (I haven’t decided whether or not I wish for this game to exist), I was hooked.  Granted, The Assignment is the second story I’ve read, but I loved it too.

As you know (or not depending on if you’ve read earlier posts or if I actually haven’t mentioned it), I love novels where best friends fall in love, doesn’t matter if it’s M/M or otherwise.  And this novel had that plus a right amount of angst and sexual tension and just down right hot sex.

Evangeline is a great writer.  She is very detailed oriented without droning on about it and the characters were distinguishable and not stereotypical hot and beefy (except for the bad guys). 

Considering the setting is in a gay resort and the two main characters have to “pretend” to be gay, I felt like this novel was another rehashing of gay chicken.  And I wasn’t complaining one bit.

I loved it and I’d read it again.  Read Str8te Boys if you haven’t already.

Review: Drawn Together

Just finished reading Drawn Together by ZA Maxfield.

I…more than liked it.  I might even love it. 

I was originally drawn (no pun intended) to this novel because it was about, originally, an american otaku going on a mission to confess his undying love for a american-born Japanese mangaka.  As a huge fan of most things anime/manga and a yaoi/MM fangirl, I figured this was right up my alley and I was not disappointed. 

This entry is going to be relatively short because I don’t really have much to say about it other than I really liked it.  However, there are a few things I want to address.

To be honest I didn’t read the entire blurb (it had me at “Anime Expo”), so I was a bit thrown when stalker-Amelia made her first appearance.  I feel like it was a bit convoluted; I had to read it a few times to get what happened.  First Yamane gets a warning phone call, then food service comes and all of a sudden Yamane’s getting a fork through his hand.  But because I didn’t read the whole blurb, I felt Amelia and all her drama was a good plot element because I wondered what was going to happen after the Expo was over.

Maxfield also hinted that Rory had desires for men prior to the start of the novel and also, unless I misread, might have acted on it.  It’s kind of ambiguous, and I just wanted to know more about it.

Like I said, I more than liked it.  I wasn’t even put off by how semi-quickly they fell in love with each other over the course of a couple days.  Granted, Rory was in love with Yamane the woman, so it was a step in the right direction.  And in Yamane’s case, how could you not find Rory’s mission kind of romantic, even though it’s a bit stalkerish?  I’m also happy that the sex wasn’t completely one-sided like other interacial M/M novels I’ve read where the all-american white guy is always the top and the minority (usually a smaller asian or latino guy) is the bottom with no room for discussion.

So, I recommend this is you: like hot anime/manga-like japanese guys, sweet southern boys, a well-written love story.

**I must make a note that the Anime Expo is just a way for them to meet and other than Yamane sketching a few times throughout, it’s not really anime/manga related.

Review: 911

I read and finished 911 by Chris Owen at around 4 in the morning.  I usually begin to write my review of books right after reading, but considering the time, I hope you’ll forgive me.  I also actually wanted to think about how I felt about the novel.

I have to say, that I liked it. 

I can always tell when I’m reading a Chris Owen novel because of how she structures it.  What she does (though I’m not sure on the particular order) is breaks up the novel in to parts, within those parts are chapters and within those chapters are time ellipses.  I like that she does this because it doesn’t draw out the story and gives short, everyday glimpses into the lives of the characters she writes about and that’s what I like about her writing in general.  Even though the novel was 330 pages long, it felt relatively short (partially because the pdf view was at 221% and the font was probably 13ish).

I liked how Owen didn’t immediately bring all the characters together.  First Scott and Drew lived together as roommates/friends before they decided to establish a romantic relationship with each other, though the house was filled with months of sexual tension prior.  Even without reading the blurb, Chris Owen did a good job in foreshadowing Eric’s arrival by having the couple discuss the possibility of having a threesome (all or nothing). 

Even though Eric was introduced and mentioned a couple times in earlier chapters, it did kind of throw me when the novel began in his POV.  Only for a second though.  Eric was a perfect addition to Drew and Scott.  He was insecure and boyish for a man who was more physically imposing than the other two, but it worked for the story.  Thinking on it now, Eric is my favorite of the three, Drew a close second.  It’s not that I didn’t like Scott, but I am always impartial to the gentle giants and wild ‘n crazy guys more so than the uptight one.  Plus, I was half-expecting Scott to be the reason for the three of them to break up, but I was (luckily) wrong. 

Drew, Scott and Eric dealt and felt things that normal couples (in this case a triad) go through on a regular basis (love, tragedy, family drama). 

Side note:  speaking of family drama, why is it in novels/films involving M/M relationships that parents finding out their son is gay is tragic because then they won’t be able to have grandchildren?  I mean people in the LGBT community can have children biological or otherwise.  I guess part of it is that it’s not a traditional family.  I’m speculating.  But still, that’s something that always grinds my gears when I hear a parent (yeah, I know it’s fictional) say something like that.  If I had a child who was gay/lesbian, I’d say, “That’s fine that you’re gay, but don’t think you’re getting out of giving me grandkids.”  Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not my decision, but most parents what grandchildren. End Side note.

Ultimately, I think that Chris Owen did a good job in telling a contemporary story without making it overly dramatic.   Just everyday working men going through realistic ups and downs of a relationship.  The sex scenes were well placed, hot.  Even better that it didn’t overtake the plot, which was a problem for me when I was reading her book, Bareback.  If you like those aspects, then I recommend you read it and her other works as well.

Review: Witness

When I looked up Mike Shade’s Witnesson All Romance eBooks, the novel was placed under the categories of suspense/thriller and romantic literature.  So imagine my surprise to find that there is also some BDSM elements thrown in there as well.  The novel’s blurb doesn’t hint to it either:

Gary starts out as a murder suspect when a woman is killed and he ends up wearing a good bit of her blood. The fact that Gary writes horror novels doesn’t help his case one bit. Neither does his story of the big, monstrous man who actually did the killing, who stopped by on the way from the scene and gave him a hug.

Police detective Zeke doesn’t think Gary murdered anyone. There’s something about Gary, even if the rest of the world thinks he’s crazy. Zeke is drawn to Gary to a degree that amazes him, and even when he tries to stay professional, he finds himself wanting to do very unprofessional things.

Between Gary’s terrifying house and the horrifying events of Gary’s childhood, Zeke knows there’s more to the case than meets the eye. He tries to balance keeping a watchful eye on Gary and protecting the man, but Gary’s fear of the world outside his own door makes things difficult, to say the least.

Danger lurks around every corner of Gary’s life, from the stacks of boxes in his hallway to the terror that waits for him every time he leaves the house. Can Zeke convince Gary that he can escape his past, and that they have a future together? Or will Gary wait too long to face his personal demons?

I’m not a fan of BDSM novels to be perfectly honest.  I’m not judging people who enjoy/apart of the lifestyle or like to read/write about it, but it’s just not for me.  Though I like the premise of this novel, had I known that BDSM was so prevalent, I would have passed it over.  But I guess hindsight is always 20/20.  I felt that the BDSM came very abruptly in the novel.  I guess there’s no easy way to introduce that into a novel.  I like how Shade used the sex scenes as a way for Gary to cope with his traumatic life, but they overpowered the plot.  I mean, there were many chapters in row where both heroes are laid up in either Zeke’s apartment or some hotel room having sex that involves whips and being tied to bedposts.  It was hot, I’m not going to lie, but I was much more intrigued about the case and how it was going to be solved.

I wanted to know more about Gary’s history with The Penny Man.  Who was he is essentially what I want to know.  We know he’s a psycho who’s been obsessed with Gary since childhood, but why?  Why has TPM been stalking Gary for 25 years?  I wanted Zeke to actually do his job and solve the crime/mystery.  Maybe that could have answered The Penny Man questions.  Also,  I wanted Gary to get help for his problems.  He’s been through 25 years of trauma and, no offense, one week of great sex really isnt going to cure that.

Witness, though, was a lot better story-wise in comparison to Trouble.   With Witness, there actually was a story. Kind of.   The characterization was very distinctive.  The sex was hot.  My only gripe is that Shade had a lot of potential to expand on the plot of solving the murders, but let it fall flat only to pick it up again 20 pages before the end of the book.

Review: Once Upon A Veterinarian

I was a bit apprehensive about reading Drew Zachary’s Once Upon A Veterinarian.  However, I was surprised…not neccessarily in a pleasant way, but surprised nonetheless.

The synopsis (courtesy of All Romance eBooks):

Ben has a good life. Partner in a thriving veterinarian clinic with his best friend Stacey, he has a great dog, a favorite Chinese take-out place and a great DVD collection. The only thing he doesn’t have is a special someone to share his life with. When Ben has a number of poisoned animals come through his clinic, he call in the police, suspecting that these aren’t random tragedies, but deliberate killings.

Enter Constable Tim Geary. Dog and cat poisonings are fairly low on the priority list, but Tim decides to look into them. The attraction between Tim and Ben is immediate and soon Chinese food and more is on the menu. Life has a way of trying to keep the boys apart, though. Can they find a way to overcome their busy lives and be together?

 

When I first started reading, I thought this was just going to be a rehashing of Heart Doctor(and in a few ways it was) so much to the point that I thought I was just going to copy-and-paste the same review, but I liked OUAV more because it had all the elements Heart Doctor lacked (see previous review).  I mean, the main characters, Ben and Tim, met and had their first date on the same day and I thought their consummation wasn’t far behind.  I’m glad I was wrong about that aspect.

Through a series of unfortunate circumstances (aka major cock-blocking from friends and work), Ben and Tim are not able to have sex until well into the novel.  I liked that the author made them wait (and kind of  made them work for it) because as the reader, I felt that same sense of urgency and frustration along with the characters.  Are they going to do it? Are they not going to do it?

I was certainly frustrated for the both of them (Tim mostly) when it came to Ben’s bff, Stacey.  I wanted to slap her in the face.  I have a love-hate relationship with  cock-blocking characters.  I love them in novels because it provides a way for characters to get to know each other on more than physical level and it keeps me interested in when the characters are finally going to have sex.  Not so much a fan of cock-blockers in real life, though.  Every time Stacey popped her little intrusive butt at the worst times imaginable and I wanted Tim to rip her a new one and Ben to tell her to go home (I’m putting that politely).  I was relieved that Zachary addressed those issues in the novel and didn’t leave it an open-ended issue or chalk it up to “that’s just the way she is.”  I also liked how the investigation wasn’t dropped either.

All in all, I didn’t dislike it.  It’s not one of my favorites, but it was well-written and well-paced.  So I guess second time is a charm?

Review: Heart Doctor

Drew Zachary’s Heart Doctor is:

Drey Banerjee, head nurse on the cardiac floor at City Hospital, loves his job. He loves it even more when heart doctor Brady MacDonald joins the team. Brady is cute, good at his job, and also gay. Soon the two are flirting like crazy and Drey’s showing Brady the ropes, the local diner, his bedroom…

Brady’s got rules, though, about not dating his co-workers. Not to mention the hospital frowns on fraternization between employees who work the same floor. Where does that leave Drey and Brady when innocent flirting begins leading to much, much more? With a cast of secondary characters egging Drey and Brady on, Heart Doctor is a heartwarming and delightful tale of falling in love.

I feel like I’ve been fool again.  However, what the blurb says is exactly what happens.  I don’t know, I guess I was just expecting…more.  There were things that Zachary only scratched the surface of, making Heart Doctor look like a PWP novel.  At 132 pages, I was hoping more would have happened than a string of sex scenes.

 

What I would have like to see in the book:

• More inside the working of the hospital
• Exploration of Drey’s culture and family
• Actual conflict between the two heroes
• Brady enforcing his “rules” and the couple working around it (thus causing actual conflict)

I guess what I really wanted to happen was clearer, more described view of how the two fell in love.  I mean, from my POV as the reader is as follows: Meet>Went on one date>Had sex on the second date>Sex>Sex>Sex>Sex, etc>I love you, lets move in together.  I too found myself skipping over some sex scenes hoping for a story to appear.  Ultimately, at the end I kept asking myself, “How did this supposed love evolve?”  Perhaps unwritten parts that took place between sex scenes?

What I liked about the novel:

• Well-executed characterization of the characters.  You knew that Drey was the wild crazy one, Brady was more conservative (slightly)
• Gave characters a background
• Though I wish there was less of them, the sex scenes were HOT
• Main characters interactions with supporting characters
• The fact that all supporting characters were fangirls :)

This is Zachary’s latest work among the others that I have, so I’ll probably be working backwards or, at least, out of chronologic order.  I just hope earlier works will have more depth.