Elisa Rolle Female, 35. Padova, Italy

Passion's Victory by K.C. Kendricks

Micah is the not so young son of the owner of an important architecture firm. At 34 years old he is already a partner in the firm and owner of thr 25% of it. Micah is also gay and out, but he doesn't flaunt his sexuality in respect of his older father and grandfather. And then when he turned 30 he suffered from he strange case of tiredness... he is tired of no stings attach relationship and he is searching for Mr Right. To him, Mr Right is an older man with a bit of domineering behavior... like Jonas. Jonas is the "new" employee of the firm, but he is not "young": 48 years old and with a hidden past, he is handsome and more compelling since he is like a treasure to uncover; and the first mystery is to find if he is straight or not. Micah's gaydar doesn't work well with Jonas... well, if for gaydar you meant his penis' reactions, "it" works very well when around Jonas, but still Micah doesn't know if the object of his attentions is available. It seems like Jonas build a shield around him.

The story is not too short, 70 pages, but it's really two scenes: the first in which Micah and Jonas play the touch and run game to know each other better, adn the second in which Micah and Jonas consume their relationship. But it's not simple nor the first or the second. Jonas is not an easy character, he has a lot of layers and he is touchy feelings; Micah is walking in a minefield and he has to be very careful to not make run Jonas. Actually if Micah was not so interested in the man, I don't know if he was worthy of all this patient... But Jonas is worthy, he has suffered a lot in the past, both physically than emotionally, and even if he is the older in the couple, he now is like a newborn baby to feelings, he needs to learn again to trust and love.

Even if different in age, Micah and Jonas are very similar characters, both used to be the master in the relationship, but now they need to compromize if they want to be together. but no one of them has to have the feeling to have lost his masculinity.

This is the second time that I like a K.C. Kendricks' story, but that in the end I'd be glad to have more to read. She build very well the plot and the growing tension, there is a firecrack explosion, and the the end... why didn't she tell us more about the morning after? In this story there is a lot to say, a may/december relationship, an office affair, a family in the background ready to make its appearance...

Surrendered Victory by K.C. Kendricks

This is a little discovery: little since it's really short, less than 60 pages, and a discovery since I didn't expect to be so enthralled by the story.

Dalton and Reed are dancing around each other since six weeks. Both in the same business field, construction enterprises, they meet every Friday at the same pub. Some beers together, sometime a dinner, a lot of teasing but not touching. Both are aware that it's not friendship that link them together, but Reed is uncertain on what he wants. He is 33 years old and he is still in the denying phase: he has had his string of girlfriends, to prove that he is the son his father wants, but his relationships always ended in a bad way. Now he moved in a new city, far from his father, and maybe he is ready to admit what HE wants, and to do something to make it happens. Dalton seems the right man.

43 years old and divorced, Dalton has long ago admitted that he prefers men. He is not openly out, but he is willing to a bit of flirting and teasing, and maybe, if Reed is willing too, to some playful time together.

What Reed not Dalton are expecting is that in the end, their night together is more involving and not so easy to forget and move on.

Almost all the story is the slight mounting of their excitement the fatal night: from the light teasing in the pub, to the full bloom of their expectations when they are at Dalton's house. It's a game of reach and fly away. Reed wants and fears, but he takes that final step that brings him in Dalton's embrace, and to an experience he cannot deny for long. But when he makes his mind clear, and reach for what he wants, he is ready to dive into it with all himself. Maybe Dalton instead is ready for a casual relationship, but a full commitment is not what he is expecting; but he finds it and he needs to deal with the new turn of events.

Sexy, deeply erotic, very graphic in details but not vulgar, this story is a very good reading, fast and enjoyable.

Boys love, show business setting and also a nice female character who doesn't mess with the two male characters? What is there to not like in this story?

Lori is a drummer, she is living with her boyfriend who is in a band and she has also the chance to write a song here and there, but she really wants to play her music. And so she puts an ad to find bandmates and Luk and Jude answer to it.

Jude is Lori's best friend, openly gay and with a nice voice but an even nicer look that goes well on stage. Jude is Straight Edge: you can always learn something while reading, even if you are reading romance; from Wikipedia, Straight Edge refers to a lifestyle that started within the hardcore punk subculture whose adherents make a commitment to refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs. Plus Jude is also a buddhist, and so he is also vegetarian and avoids to have "recreational" sex.

Luk is a college student who is just starting to realize why he doesn't like to have sex with girls and why he finds so interesting blokes... He still lives at home with his parents and he lives from an allowance; he is also so lucky to have a former famous rock band member as neighbor that let him use her expensive equipment. Luk is quite irresistible, with his punk look that only hides a boy in searching of an identity. And since he is so cute, Jude can't avoid to fall in love with him.

Jude and Luk's relationship is easy and nice, no much drama and very enjoyable sex, very simple and tender; quite a novelty, in a Laney Cairo's book, since she has accustomed me to be quite bold and a source of info in "unusual" way to do it. But probably in this book it was not necessary, the love story is quite nice as it is, with Luk's awkwardness since for him all, and when I say all I mean that, is new when it arrives to sex with a man.

When I said the Lori is a nice female character, I don't mean that she is only a pretty thing to grace the story; she is bold and strong, talk straight and shot straight (only with words) but not for this reason she is less feminine or charming: she is woman in all for all. She is not lucky in love thought, and she needs help, even if she doesn't know how to ask. All in all probably she is the best character in the book, meaning how she behaves. Luk probably is second in list, but he is also very young and maybe even a bit spoiled but his mother; when he has the chance to build something steady with Jude, he prefers to return back home with his mother and continues to have a "boyfriends" relationship with his man... but he is still 19 years old, and so it's only the right thing to do for him. And the Jude; he apparently is the more balanced of the three, no drink and drugs, only safe sex and rock and roll... but he is also the first to retreat in "peaceful" silence when things go wrong and it's not even the first time; he needs to be said as behave with his wounded friend (Lori). Jude is not bad, don't get me wrong, but I believe that he is not as strong as Lori and Luk are.

Anyway the story is good and all the characters, even the supporting ones, are well developed and interesting. And I like also the Australian setting, I don't know how to explain, but you can say that it's another world than USA or UK.

Note: Wonderful cover by Manic Pixie, and despite the term "Diva" that in italian is female, the boy on the cover is Luk :-)

I had a very good history teacher in high school; he didn't teach us history through date but through the words of people who lived in the period we needed to study. I still remember the word, but not the name, of a writer who told his World War I: it was the war that changed the way of make war; before the WWI there were knights and the war was made by men; after the WWI there were machine and the men were only numbers, bodies to slaughter. Young men went to war with dreams of justice and came back, if they came back, forever changed.

It's not said why Sutton and Jack went to war, probably for the same reason of most of them, since it was the right thing to do, but now they are back home and home seems different, a place where they don't know how to live. Sutton is from a wealthy family, and he has still chances in his life to be someone, his family sends him to college but he is kicked off after a liaison between him and a teacher is discovered. Sutton has no face to be back home, probably since he still doesn't know what to do in his life... probably Sutton is wondering why a man like him, with forbidden desires in his mind, was allowed to come back alive when so many others lost their life; Sutton doesn't think he deserves that.

In New York instead Jack knows what he wants from his life, he wants to ail on radio, but he has also to pay off a lot of money he borrowed and his stores is not doing well. Plus he is still recovering from the nightmares he brought back from Europe. He has no problem with the fact that he prefers men, since he has none intention to make a family and he is more than satisfy to spend his free time, and his few money, with his friends at night... anything to delay the time in which he will be alone in bed. Wasting all he has and behaving like a idleness is only a way to prove to himself that he is not worthy of something better.

But when Jack meets Sutton in the worst moment of the man's life, he has to help him... save one now since he couldn't save more then. Truth be told, Sutton and Jack help each other, Jack giving Sutton a shelter, and Sutton playing the piano for Jack's radio tune. And at night they again help each other, Sutton finally finding a man who doesn't fear to love him, and Jack having someone beside him to hunt down his nightmare. It's an easy and tender love story, not passionate declaration of undying love, but more the meeting of two lost souls. All right, maybe there is not graphic sex, but only since all happen behind closed door, and even if we don't see anything, the sensuality is all over the book, in the way Sutton looks at Jack when he wanders for the apartment, in the way they awake in the same bed still embracing each other and searching comfort, in the sweet smile of Sutton who thinks that Jack is the best man in the world, and in the good heart of Jack who knows that he has found a treasure and cherishes him.

You can say from the first pages that this novel will not deceive you and so you will happily loose yourself in the more than 300 pages, knowing that, at the end, the romantic in you will be happy.

The book tells Ian and Devlin story from 1919 to 1924, the years during which Ireland fought for its independence from England. Ian is a apothecary apprentice of only 19 years old; he doesn't really care for war or kill, he wants to become an apothecary and make his own life in the world. Ian is a quite guy, probably even more quite since it's years that he realized that he prefers the company of men, but he has never acted upon his preferences. He tries to be as average as possible and to not be seen in the crowd. But when he witnesses to the assassination of a man and his old mother in the street to the hand of English soldier, he cannot hide no more. He offers his help to the IRA army and among the brotherhood he finds Devlin.

Devlin is only one years older than Ian, and they know each other enough to greet on street but not enough to be considered friend, they are on different level in life; Devlin's mother unofficially has a lot of "boyfriend" who visits her at night, and on hers track, Devlin started to find some "odd" work at night in the near cities, with married men in dark alley.

While Ian considers himself homosexual, Devlin at first approaches Ian more with a friends with benefits attitude: Devlin likes both women and men, and in this moment he likes Ian. But he knows that the lad, as he calls him, is way more inexperience than him, and even if they deepened their relationship to an intimate level, Devlin is reluctant to be fully involved, more for Ian's good than anything else. But more the years pass and the war worsen and more both men realize that they are now not only friends and fellow soldiers, but also lovers.

Despite passing through really nasty moments, Devlin and Ian are really young; they face the independence war with more heart than brain, they are not warriors, sometime I read them like children with adult dresses. Both of them follow something bigger than them, and they are really lucky to always come out alive; they are not hero characters, but more supporters.

The love story between them is nice, the more romantic minds should close the eyes in front of Devlin's side profession, something he is forced to bring on sometime more during his relationship with Ian, he really has no choice; but I think that it respects his character and the time, sincerely it's just enough of a pink glasses prospective for the two to be together, without being also too moralist. Maybe sometime I found the sex a bit too extreme (nothing fancy mind you): too much position other than the missionary and too much words in bed... I don't know, but sometime it felt forceful.

All in all a very nice and easy book to read, with enough historical details which prove that the author has more than a passing interest in the matter, and a medium long novel that allows plenty of time for the reader to enjoy the characters.

The Positions of Love (Book 1) by J.M. Snyder

The first book on the new series The Positions of Love, sequel to The Powers of Love, see Matty and Vic approach their first Christmas together.

Despite his bulky body and tought behaviour, Vic is a tender guy, who has had a very difficult life and is waiting is very first Christmas with Matt cause it will be the first time in his life he will celebrate the Season in happiness.

The search of Vic for the perfect gift is heartwarming and Vic is like an elephant in a glass shop: he doesn't know how to move and he fears to break everything around him, but in the end he will find the right gift, a gift which arrives from the heart and from the deeply love he has for Matt.

And Matt is a beautiful man, both in body than in soul: he is caring and loving and wants so much to please this bear of a man with the heart of a child.

Of all the short stories about Matt and Vic I have read, I think this one is my preferred. And it opens wonderfully a series which seems to be very interesting. I can't wait to read more.

Two Pillars Position (The Positions of Love 2) by J.M. Snyder

Another brief chapter in Matt and Vic series.

Matt is at work, in the gym where he is swim instructor, and Vic decides to do some weight before work. But when Matt, through their telepathic powers, knows of Vic's presence, there is no way that he will let Vic go to work without first share a little hot moment in the shower...

But the Two Pillats Position (make love standing in the shower and not pulling out with a motion of the hips) gives a very strange new power to Vic...

The story is very short but it's only one in the new monthly appointment by J.M. Snyder. For who loves Matt and Vic adventures, made of the very nice men in love, this is a really tasty add. What I like of Matt and Vic is that they are two real characters, in an unreal situation.

Clasping Position (The Positions of Love 3) by J.M. Snyder

It's Valentine's day and Matt wants to go out for dinner in a classy steakhouse.

But before going out, Vic and Matt makes love, and as always, a new power is transferred to Vic through Matt's sperm: this time Vic can create sparks with his body. It's a funny power since Vic starts to melt everything around him.

Even if Matt is a dominant in the bedroom, it's Vic who is the steady guy in the couple. He is happy to content every whims of his silly lover, above all when Matt drinks too much, and becomes an horny man...

Another short, less than 25 pages, but funny enstallment in the Positions of Love series, that it's becoming like a monthly appointment for me.

Hammock Position (The Positions Of Love 4) by J.M. Snyder

Another little story in the Matt and Vic life, this one really short, less than 30 pages.

Matt and Vic feeling the spring in the air decide to spend an afternoon near the river. But what they thought to be a beautiful place to make out in open air, reveals to be a bit too crowded. And so in the end they change the setting in the rear seat of Vic's car.

What they finish to do is the Hammock Position, with Vic sits on Matt's lap. And this position gives a new superpower to Vic, the ability to move things with only the mind power. And Vic will have soon the chance to experiment this new power to help a bus full of children.

Since this series started, Vic is little by little coming out as a real superhero. What it was only a game between Vic and Matt, now starts to be something bigger and that puts Vic under the eye of the media. We will see in the next episodes what will happen.

Two Dogs Position (The Positions of Love 5) by J.M. Snyder

Vic and Matty continues their adventures. This one is a little "domestic". Our couple wants to threw a dinner party and they worry about the neighboor on the first floor, that always complains for their rumors. But Vic's landlady, a sweet nanny with an eye right for Vic, tells them to not worry and to enjoy their time with friends.

Before the guests arrive, Vic and Matty decide to try an "old style" position, the doggy style... what they didn't expect, has ever, is the collateral effect: Vic gains "dog" superpower: high hearing and protective feelings for his home and its inhabitants, like the landlady. And like a good dog, he will be able to protect his master.

Less than 25 pages, is another scene in Vic and Matty's life and a small chapter to add to this funny series. More time pass, more details the author adds to the couple and their environment.

Cowboy Position (The Positions Of Love 6) by J.M. Snyder

In another of the little scenes part of The Positions of Love series, Matt and Vic experiment a new for them position, but a quite favorite in the M/M romance genre, the Cowboy position.

This time the story is sweet and tender, since tells us something more on the day-to-day life of the couple. How they have a routine, Matt cooks, Vic cleans up, and then they cuddle on the couch, kissing and caressing till the bed time moment.

But when they want to try something new, they never know what superpower it will bring to Vic: sometime they are good powers, sometime not so good. The Cowboy position, for how simple it's, it's not so healthier for Vic.

There is not much to say on this one, since it's very short, less than 25 pages, other than that it's almost like we are becoming part of Matt and Vic's family, and so it's quite right that we read also of their simple life, made of chores and habits.

Kneeling Butterfly Position (The Positions of Love 7) by J.M. Snyder

Not always Vic and Matt have the same idea... Vic is more a type of couch in front of television and cuddle with his lover, Matt sometime instead has shopping frenzy, and when a new megastore opens near them, he can't help to be there first time in the morning, even if outside rain and lightining are pouring.

Matt drags Vic into a clothes department to buy new jeans to his lover, and obviously he wants for Vic to parade in front of him with every single pair he wears. And since Vic has a such good body it's a little step to find the two of them locked in a small dressing room, trying to use at best the little space. Vic will prove unexpected flexible ability...

Another little scene in The Positions of Love series, with another position for Matt and Vic to prove and another power for Vic to discover. Like in the previous one, I like to read about their ordinary life, of their life as a couple. It's pretty interesting to see how the most uncommon things happen to a so common couple.

Pillar And The Ivy Position (The Positions of Love 8) by J.M. Snyder

Like every long term relationship, also Vic and Matt face some moment of uneasiness: Matt is curios on the possibility of new sex games between them, and instead Vic is more a traditionalist, he would be glad to have a quite sex session in bed, missionary position or something similar. But he loves Matt and what Matt wants, Matt gets. And so they plan a morning in the swimming pool Matt attends, and it will be sex in the water... with obvious consequences when Matt's sperm has its collateral effect.

Vic is a down to heart guy, he is simple and open, he has not hidden side; Matt is a bit of a player, he likes to play and experiment and Vic is the perfect playmate, always eager to comply Matt's desires.

Another brief chapter, 23 pages, in the Vic and Matt's series. As always there is a mix of normality and paranormal, with Vic doing the dishes after dinner, with all the grumpiness of a man caught doing a chores, and with the all too normal needs for Vic to call in sick when another superpower makes its appearance... Vic's boss should be a very comprehensive guy, since lately Vic's leaves from work are escalating.

Tripod Position (The Positions Of Love 9) by J.M. Snyder

In book 9 of the Positions of Love, we learn something more on Vic's past. Vic is a quiet guy, he loves to stay home and make out in front of the television with Matt, but there is a secret hidden in the bottom of his closet, a box full of leather... Vic in the past was a leather man, and he went to those clubs so cherished by the biker type.

For Vic's birthday, Matt wants to do something special for Vic, and a night out in one of those clubs seems a good idea. The problem is that Matt is a very light drunk, and with what they drink at dinner and the beer they take in the club, Matt is gone for good, and as always Vic needs to play the role of the knight in shining armour. It's always quite funny to read that the stronger in the couple, and also the one that all consider the macho man, is instead the bottom. Not only that, Vic is also the more insecure; doesn't matter how big and strong he is, when he is around Matt, he is always fearing the moment in which Matt will awake from his sex indulged stupor to find out that he is tied to Vic, a man who doesn't deserve him. This is obviously Vic's thought, since Matt, and the reader as well, know better, and they can clearly see that they are fated to stay together.

Lotus Position (The Positions Of Love 10) by J.M. Snyder

Usually Vic and Matt's little life scenes are spent in the comfort of their small apartment, or in the big suburban space of their town. Not much people around, and this is good, since Vic and his strange powers are not something that is good to advertise. But even a superhero goes on vacation, or better the superhero's lover want to go on vacation, and Vic has to follow: we already know that Vic will do anything to please his lover Matt.

Matt drags Vic to a small beach town full of piers, amusement parks, shops (obviously shops, they are almost addictive for Matt) and... people! It's almost impossible for Vic to not be discovered, but, lucky for him, disguise in a crowd is easier than among few people.

On the sexual position of the day, Vic and Matt find out that it's very romantic to make love at night on the beach, if not for the little grains of sand that stick everywhere, especially in some intimate places... but Vic is all for the little "pain" during sex, and so he doesn't complain too much.

The Arc Position (The Positions Of Love 11) by J.M. Snyder

It's Halloween time and Matt wants for them to going to a party his friend Roxy is having. As usual, it will not take too much for Matt to convince Vic to do as he likes, using sweet words and even sweeter sex; this is probably the thing I like most in this series, the contrast between Vic's rough exterior and instead his real behavior, that it is a quiet man, who loves to cuddle in front of the television and to spend as much time as possible only with his partner. Vic is always caring of Matt's happiness, and even if he doesn't like something, he would do anything to make Matt happy.

And so Vic accepts to wear a cop costume, but Matt has the brilliant idea to try a new love position soon before leaving for the party and the consequences are always surprising... let me say that Vic has to change his costume's choice to adapt his new looks. This is probably the most interesting part of the book, since again it underlights as Matt is the kinkier in the couple, even if he has the looks of a good boy; Vic could be the one that looks like a biker or a big bad guy, but for real he is the most conservative man, he doesn't like to experiment, and instead Matt always finds something interesting, in a sexual way, in the strange paranormal powers he gifts Vic.

I think this one is the better book by Jade Falconer I read till now.

Gabriel is a very good boy. A successful lawyer with a perfect life and a perfect fiancee, soon to be married with the Major's daughter. But Gabriel is also a very lonely man: orphaned in young age he has never had someone near him to feel safe and when he started to realize he was interested in men, he felt guilty and remorse; and when he was sexual harrassed by an older man when he was still a student, he thought to be even more guilty, that he deserved what was happening to him, and he shut up in his shell even more.

When his sexual desires are too much to be repressed he sees only a chance ahead of him, to hire a male prostitute. Nicky is a nineteen years old guy who ran away from home two years before. He sells his body and thinks he doesn't deserve nothing better in life. And when he realizes that the man who hired him for two nights of sex is also a very public man, he thinks to blackmailed him.

But Gabriel is a good man, and he falls in love for Nicky. And Nicky who really is only a young guy who has never had a chance in his life, thinks better than ruin Gabriel's life, and tries to send out Gabriel from his dirty life.

The book is very erotic. Sex is one of the main event of the story, but since it's also the main reason why Gabriel and Nicky met, I think it's not overdone. The scope of this book is not to decipt the real life of a street hustler, but to tell a love story, nevertheless Nicky's life is not hidden, and even if there is a Cinderella / Cinderfella's perspective, this doesn't mean that, when Gabriel enters Nicky's life like a knight in shining armour, all things change, and Nicky could come out from his inferno clean as a newborn baby.

I will not hide the fact that there is also a bit of kinky pleasure in the fact that Nicky is an hustler and that he does and we read all he does, things that are not "pure" and "chaste"; but still, all the book is more romantic than realistic. Gabriel is a very tender character, maybe a little too good to be true, and Nicky so beautiful and maybe a little too older for his age, unfortunately I don't think that a real teen hustler could be so lucky in his life.

The short story by Gavin Atlas was published inside the Anthology Hard Hats edited by Neil Plakcy. The common theme of the anthology is the construction workers world, and in Gavin Atlas 15 pages story, Demitri, the owner of a construction company named Hercules to the Rescue, is trying to restore an house while the lawyer who owns the house is on vacation and his son is using the house as personal playground.

Dylan, the young man, is a college student with very little propension for studying and a lot of interest in find a sugar daddy to maintain him. While his father is gone, Dylan is having a relationship with the man's boss, with the little and improbable hope of a job's offer. The man is also inviting friends over to "use" Dylan as their personal whore, and Demitri is tired to see all this, above all since he eavesdrops a phone call in which Dylan told his forbidden fantasy about him.

Like in the previous short story by Gavin Atlas I read, there is a twink type of character who has no problem to consider sex as a recreational activity; in this case is a "little" better since Dylan has no a psychological problem, he is only lazy! He thinks that using sex he can work less for what he wants. And also Demitri is a better character since he, as reward to Dylan to access the boy's grace, offers to the boy an alternative to a life as kept man... I'm not sure that Dylan will take the chance, but still is better than nothing.

The first in the Between Friends series (even if not the first to come out) is the story of, as the title says, when Harry met Jason. Jason is a post graduate student; he wants to be a teacher and he is quite a dreamy guy: he dreams of prince charming and knight in shining armor. His dreams come true when he meets Harry. Harry is a police officer who finds Jason to a party: they were called over since someone spiked the beverages with drugs, and Jason is one of the victim. Unable to have coherent answers from Jason, Harry decides to take him home, and from the morning after their relationship starts in a very easy way, even if Harry asks to Jason to wait before moving the relationship on a sexual level, he wants to be sure and to wooing Jason a bit before... a man who behaves like a knight in shining armor is the best for Jason who willingly decides to be chaste for a bit.

Before meeting Harry, Jason was living with Sammy in a friends with benefits relationship; they never took their relationship seriously since both Jason than Sammy knew that they were searching something different in a partner. But they are really good friends, and sometime they help each other in an almost stress relief sex; nothing too serious, some hand jobs and blowjobs, but never anything else. And when Jason starts his relationship with Harry, he maybe would consider to stop for good, but Sammy is having a lot of trouble with a stalker a man who treated him pretty bad and now the last thing he needs is to loosing also his buddy friend Jason.

As usual there is a lot of sex in the story, but in comparison to other books I read by Sean Michael, in this one the plot has a main role, and the sex is only a nice side part. Actually the interaction between Harry and Jason, and Jason and Sammy is quite interesting, since, even if Jason brings on his "odd" relationship with Sammy, I never felt that he was cheating on Harry or similar, above all since Harry was aware of all and very understanding. I'm now very interesting in reading Sammy's story, since both him than Jason are really sweet characters and Sammy in particular is cute and tiny, fragile but not weak, a really charming character: in a way, he stole the scene to both Jason and Harry. As for them, Jason is a little firecracker, good-hearted, open and friendly; Harry is the typical cop hero, strong, steady and caring.

This is really a strange anthology and not a romance at all; some of the characters are gay men, both modern or myth or figures from the past, but it's not them being gay that linked all the story, it's more the unexpected and the legend, the faith and the myth mixed together.

The Safety of Thorns: Israel is a slave boy who lives in a plantation; he is very young (don't know exactly the age but he is still working little jobs around, so I believe he is nothing more than a child). One day, near the briar patch he sees a strange man. Israel believes him to be the Devil, even if the man reassures him that it's not true. But from that moment on, Israel's life is no more the same and terrible things happen around him. Maybe the man was not the devil, but probably he opens Israel's eyes to who he is and where he stays, and that was worst than a damnation.

Etiolate: Oliver is an African American artist; as an artist, with an artist's eyes, he likes the pretty thing, above all the pretty boys. But Oliver is not an handsome man and he is not even wealthy and famous, and so the pretty boys don't like him. One more night he sees the reject in the eyes of one of that boys, and probably his desire is so strong that he unveal something terrible, a curse or similar... or maybe he only frees his true self, one who sees the beauty also in the horror of death.

Her Spirit Hovering: Howard was a young man with big dreams of becoming a famous and adored artist. He had the skills, he was good, but he had also a overbearing mother who always crushed his dreams. Not only that she also managed to ruin every important relationship Howard had, first with Kamela, a young Indian girl he met at school (and being of a different culture was not good for his mother) and then with Ned, a talented man he lived with (and obviously being a man was not good for his mother). Now his mother is passed away, and Ned is probably thinking that he know can start living, but grudge and regret are bigger than the wish to start, and the weight of his presence is almost as present as when she was alive. But it's true that it's all his mother's fault, or maybe it's Howard that doesn't have the courage to take his life in his hands?

Come Join Me: Aime is a young boy with a gift, he can see the spirits of his dead relatives. But only his grandmother thinks at that like a gift, all the others, his mother first, want to cure him. Will Aime learn to live with his spirit friends, or will he join them?

Sea, Swallow Me: Jed has always searched for something, someone bigger than life. And maybe he finally meets him in a seaside village, in the deep of the sea.

Circus Boy Without a Safety Net: C.B. is a boy with a wonderful voice and a love for the old stars, in particular Lena Horne. When he was young his parents supported his dream allowing him to dream day and night about his favorite star, but when he became a young man, a teen, and this passion still was wih him, they feared him being gay and try to repress his dreams. He was a good singer, but he couldn't be himself in the choir of the church. When C.B. finally will leave home and enter the unknown world of New York, so far and strange in comparison to his little town, will he be finally free?

Strange Alphabets: in this short story the author romances a moment in the life of Arthur Rimbaud, when he first left his family home and his mother to find his true self in the big and alluring Paris. Arthur will learn that being free it is not always so good, and great pain will wait him, but the lure of poetry and the extasy of flesh is too strong to resist.

Magpie Sisters: a little scene on a little thief girl who is drawn by shiny little thing.

A Bird of Ice: Ryuichi is a Japanese monk; he lives in a peaceful monastery along a lake and one day he "saves" a swan which is drowning. Despite the warning of his brother, he takes care of the animal, and he is strangely attracted but it. And when the animal leaves, it marks Ryuichi with a kiss / bite. From that moment on Ryuichi is no more the same and he will have to see deeply inside himself to understand what he wants and who he is.

Catch Him by the Toe: Sambo is an African tamer and Simba is his beautiful Asian tiger; Sambo and Simba, Africa and Asia, man and animal, they are both strange and beautiful. Maybe too strange and beautiful for the little American town of Azalea, which can't see beyond its own fear of what is unknown and extraordinaire.

As I said, the anthology is not simple, but it's mesmerizing. It's full of color and flavor, an intoxicating mix that catches you while reading and lingers afterward. All the tales are mostly sad, but not without hope; the romance is not the target of the characters and so it's not even the final point of the stories; they are almost all self discovery journey, and the ending point of the journey not always is a light and beautiful paradise.

Don't change something that is good. Josh Lanyon probably knows the lesson and so in this new book, he re-invent the pair that made famous the Adrien English series.

Perry is a 23 years old struggling artist with a penchant for mystery novels and the eyes full of unlikely romance. He is not at all the type to live alone, asthmatic and without the means to take care for himself, he was kicked out of home when he came out to his parents. Probably they would see some reason sooner or later, but Perry thought well to leave the city and banish himself in a creepy country manor turned boarding house. While trying to survive selling his paintings he also entertained an online romance with Mr Right, a romance which burst like a soap bubble the first time they met.

Running home with the tail between his leg, Perry has the unpleasant surprise to find a dead body in his bathtub; the only thing he can do is searching help and the only man available at the moment is his grumpy neighbor, a reserved ex marine, Nick. Reluctant, Nick searches out Perry's small apartment, where he doesn't find any corpse, but only some clues that a body could be there. Clues that, when the police arrives, are missing.

Nick has no intention to be involved, he is moving in another city in few weeks, but the puppy eyes of Perry are too irresistible. Even if Nick is a divorced man, and Perry the openly gay artist, it soon appears clear that Nick is the one with the sexual experience that should be of Perry. And not only, even if Perry has some good idea on the why of the dead body, it's Nick who has field experience to conduct an impromptu and domestic investigation. As in every worthy mystery, all the tenants of the manor could be the culprit, for different reasons: I had my idea, and this time, it wasn't the right one. As always when I read a mystery, I can't say much on the story, since I don't want to spoil the story: enough to say that usually I'm quite good in single out the right ipothesis among the various the author features. This is a classical mystery, where the author opens various possible paths, and the game is to single out the right one.

More interesting for me was the relationship between Perry and Nick. Nick was so cold and controlled that I almost feared that they would arrive to the end of the story without doing nothing; I consoled myself with the warning the publisher enclosed to the blurb, of possible situations that readers could find objectionable... and that I would find objectionable if I hadn't find them! Anyway, after establishing that Perry didn't have any experience, Nick, instead of behave like a stoic man, and leave the kid untouched and unknowing, thought well to seduce him, probably thinking to do him a favor. Tsk, tsk Nick, not at all a good behavior for an hero, above all since he hasn't any intention to stay around and take care of the kid afterward... doesn't he know that a knight in shining armor who debauch a virgin is expected to do the right thing? Truth be told, Perry didn't object, and then he was a 23 years old virgin! maybe he thought that it was his last chance...

The second book in the Masks series starts with Eric and Peter in an almost teen comedy relationship. They are young, they are in love, they haven't any problem in their life... well, this is not exactly true. Peter is still learning to mastering his powers and sometime he feels the weight of a responsibility that maybe is too much for a teen. But instead of talking with Eric, he hides behind a cool exterior, making Eric doubts of his love. On the other hand Eric is having financial problem at home, and he would like to help, but he doesn't know how. He would need more than before the comfort that only Peter can give him, but from that side there is no help.

The feeling of the book, as the previous one, is more of a young adult novel than a superhero novel. Maybe since all the superheroes are more like kid with a new toy than real man with a mission. The problem both Peter than Eric face are those of teenagers in love, in a moment in their life when they realize that there is something more than school and their own desires; plus they start to feel something that can really explain, a desire to be with the one you love (even if, in this novel, Peter and Eric spend more time arguing than loving...).

Since neither of those superheroes is adult enough to understand that something is strange, Eric finds himself to face a difficult situation, with his body and his mind that are changing, and he doesn't know if it's the puberty which is hitting or if it's real something abnormal. I feel for Eric, since he has no one to support him: truth be told, I think that Peter is a snob, with a big problem in the communication field, and most of what happened is his fault, to not trying to put aside his own problem and open to Eric; he wants for Eric to be his boyfriend, but then he does nothing for him, not like a superhero but neither like a normal boyfriend. If there is something he can make bad, you are sure that he will do that, like when he takes another girl to dinner at home with his parents, when it's weeks that Eric asks him to do that.

As I said I don't find Peter to be a nice character: he is always in a bad mood with Eric, and I didn't find that Eric deserves to be treated like that; all right Peter could have his own problems, but this is not a reason to be cold with Eric. I hope he will change in the third volume.

Rick is a good cop but he made a big mistake: he came out of the closet. In the book is not explained why and when he made the decision, we only had some hints on a previous marriage which was not so perfect. Anyway now Rick is the "gay" cop and he is roaming the street with another misfit cop, a spanish woman; and so Rick decides to volunteer to go undercover when an English drug lords decides to "acquire" the Los Angeles district. Rick is the perfect man since Gareth, the vicious criminal, has a penchant for gay handsome man. Rick's idea is to enter Gareth's bed to find out ALL his secrets and then drags him to justice. Problem is that Gareth didn't come alone from England: along with him there are three bodyguard, one best friend and... Billy Red. Billy is a pretty little thing whom mission is to grace Gareth home and pool and to satisfy every whims of the man; but Billy seems not to be a victim, he has a strange power on Gareth and he seems to have a plan on his own. Rick can't help to fall for the imp.

Meanwhile Rick's partner, Graciela, finds out that also an English cop is undercover among Gareth's crew... All right, first of all, don't think to have understand all the story from my resume: while reading I have three thesis, one very original (according to me), one obvious and one that would remind me too much another book I read recently... no one of my thesis was the right one.

Rick is a good man, but maybe he is not a so good cop (if good is the classical cop from the movie, the one who kills all the bad men alone); he made some big mistakes, but all in all he is a cop by the book: till the end he behaves as a team worker, he has not the core to be a lonesome hero. I don't want to say that he is not hero, only that he is an average "hero"; truth be told, all the climax event on the story are of average danger and the violence is always as in undertone. The only one who really seems to feel pain and joy and anger is Billy; all right, he is also a good player, he knows how to use that deer eyes he has to manipulate the men around him, but all in all he is the one who has the worst experience out of the story: Billy is Gareth's boy toy and for all the story he is used and mistreated. It's strange there are more than one sex scene in the story, but unfortunately they aren't "happy" sex scene; only in the end we read something happy. So it's only natural that I feel for Billy more than all the other, he is probably the truer character in the story; he manages to be strong and detached in the worst moment while at the same time maintain his impish image and the joy of life of a still young boy.

All in all the story is good, even if sometime I felt as the author let it go the tension: I never really felt as if my heroes were in real trouble, sometime I almost felt as if all was a big role game; as I said, the real bad moment were most targeted toward one person and in a one to one situation. But since I'm not for too much violence, I really didn't miss them, and on the contrary, I was glad to haven't to worry for all the novel.

As expected the second story (but the last to be released) on the Between Friends story is for now my favorite. It's the story of Sammy, the tiny and very flamboyant college roommate of Jason. Sammy is a little pretty thing who apparently everyone should love and instead he always falls in love for the wrong guy. Maybe the problem is that Sammy falls in love and the other guy only sees a way to have an housekeeper for free. Sammy wants so much a family that he always tries so hard to build a beautiful nest for the man he loves; he cooks, he works hard, he is the perfect lover; he is so focused in loving that he forgets to love himself.

When Jason realizes that one more man is treating very bad his best friend, he asks help to his boyfriend Harry (since, let me say, Jason is not exactly the man who can be a knight in shining armor...). And with Harry this time arrives also Peter, a buddy friend of the good cop. But Peter is not a saint as Harry, he is a leather man in disguise: an antique dealer by day, he is almost a control freak by night. But what can be a fault for someone else, it's exactly what Sammy needs in his life. Sammy, now Samuel only for Peter, learns little by little the lesson: for being happy he hasn't to disappear in the love for his man, he has to blossom and shine. And Peter is the right man to do that since he fullfil every Samuel's desire inside their home, and can give a dream work to Samuel by day.

In the previous book there was the novelty, at least for a Sean Michael's book, of the sex that was delayed on the novel; here instead Peter and Samuel let it go at the very first night, and they continue for all the book. But again the sex is not the only reason for the novel, there is a story, and a very good character's development in Samuel. Samuel is all I was expecting and maybe something more. Peter is a very nice character, gentle and caring; I believe that the author didn't give him an actual age, but I have the feeling that he is older than Samuel: he has the behavior of a man who knows exactly what he wants for his life and has the maturity to reach for it. I like the fact that he didn't force Samuel to take a decision, but he gently maneuvers him toward the right direction.

Mark Antonious is a bit of a Tom Jones character. Setting in England in 1713, it's the story of the wondrous adventures of Mark, an orphan who was raised by his uncle in a farm, never knowing who were his real parents. When he is 19 years old his uncle decides to take innocent Mark to London, to visit a dear cousin. The woman is an beautiful middle ages woman with a son of the same age of Mark and a husband always away to his duty toward the Parliament. When Mark enters the big London mansion, his fate is signed: that very night he is deflowered three time, first the mother, than the son and finally the father. Our poor guy has his life twisted, but at first he is almost willing to become the toy of the lustful family. But when he discovers that he is the bastard son of a Venetian patrician and an English opera singer, he suddenly feels necessary to go and find his root. He "whores" himself during a country party to some different English aristocrats (two dukes, a lady and a baron) and raises enough money to reach Italy; during the way he employs an Italian prostitute as interpret, bodyguard and lover.

Francesco is shocked and enthralled by this young man that is not aware how much beautiful he is and how much exposed to danger. Francesco is a man who is used to live day per day, he followed his lover to England only to be dumped and appeals to what he does so well to gain his life. But to Mark he is beginning to feel something more, even if the boy is still like a child in a candy store, and everything he sees he wants, soon and fast. It's not that Mark doesn't love Francesco, but Mark loves, and needs, to be desired, to be the object of lust of so many people, women and men alike: being desired by so many make him feel better to have been refused by his parents so many years ago.

Mark blames his mother to be an "easy" prey, but he himself is not better. It's true that, after he starts to feel love for Francesco, his chosen profession becomes a burden, and probably he will not go on with it if his "customers" were old and unattractive, but since he seems to draw only beautiful men and women, why not? And when he instead wants to "experiment", he involves Francesco, to not let the man alone... All right, I believe that you have understood that Mark lacks a bit in moral, but well, he is so shamelessly pretty, that I can't be too hard with him, and then, don't forget that also Francesco is not a saint.

Anyway, while other men in his same situation, passed through a lot of nasty thing, Mark passes only between a lot of sheet in his adventures, never lacking for food or roof thanks to his good look. And so more than a life discovery journey, he makes a sex discovery escapade.

Mark Antonious deMontford tells the story of an ancestor of the modern Mark Antonious, main character in Capital Games. And yours truly Elisa was Italian language consultant for Francesco, who is also from Padua like me: I didn't know that the novel was an historical so if Francesco said a bit too much "bello mio" (it's correct but I don't know if they used it in the XVIII century), it's all my fault! But all the other words he said are perfect :-)

Zack and the Dark Shaft (Zara's Bois 1) by Gracie C. McKeever

Please don't make me comment on the title...

Zara is a spoilt white wasp brat. She is selfish and childish. But she has to have something good in her, cause Quincy, a black businessman of success, considers her his bestfriend. And so Zara asks Quincy a financial help when she wants to open an exclusive gay club. Yes cause, even if Zara is deeply in love with Quincy, Quincy is gay and has no idea to be involved with Zara in something more than friendship.

Then Zara is killed in a casual accident, she falls in a lift dark shaft (yes this is the real "dark shaft" of the story...) and she reawakens in a Limbo with two angels who give her a chance: two weeks on earth to fullfill her desire to be with Quincy. And to realize her desire she has the opportunity to share the body of her twin brother, Zack (what a convenient chance, in this way she will have also the necessary "equipment" to draw Quincy...)

Quincy is a very good friend with Zara. So good that, when he met Zara's twin, Zack, and he was immediately attracted by the cute man, he has rejected his feelings knowing that Zara was in love with him. But now Zara is dead, and he has no intention to let Zack go away.

Suddenly Zack is very "open" and "friendly" with Quincy. And Quincy accepts this unexpected gift; but then Zack begins to fade in front of his eyes: weight loss, restless sleeping... Maybe Zara has no intention to leave Zack's body after two weeks?

The story is good and original, but I have the feeling that Gracie McKeever has closed it too soon. The first part is very well plotted, but the end is a blurr of scenes... maybe this is due to the fact that this is the first book in a series and we will have the chance to read more in the next enstallments.

Ingenue's Choice (Zara's Bois 2) by Gracie C. McKeever

Second in the Zara's Bois series, where a soon-to-be angel, who was a very spoilt and selfish woman in life, has to play the role of matchmaker for human soulmates (mostrly men) who haven't found yet the way to met.

This time is mission is to help Patryk, a wasp fair good boy, a bit workaholic, to find his happily ever after with Keir, a former painter, now bartender, who happens to be also a very hot African American guy with a tendency for D/S play.

Patryk is out from an abusive relationship with a lover who has misjudged Patryk's need for domination as weakness. Now Patryk has some problem issue to trust again a man, but Zara is ready to push him a little toward Keir. Keir has lost his iper jealous lover in an accident soon after their last quarrel. Still hanted by remorse, he has given up his art. But when he meets Patryk, inspiration blossoms in his heart together with love.

But there are some problems to overcome, like their different social environment, and Keir's fear to be again the only one for a man.

The story is prettry simple and smooth, with not much drama. It flows quite till the end. Very pretty the scene of the first date between Keir and Patryk.

Bouncer's Folly (Zara's Bois 3) by Gracie C. McKeever

Of the three on the Zara's Bois series I read, this one is maybe my favourite.

Zara has been a good girl in her last mission, and so her angels want to reward her: she will return on Earth, her soul in the body of another lost soul who left too soon. What they didn't say to Zara is that her new body is a male one, and when Zara reawakens in the arms of sexy bouncer Ramsey, also another part of Zara's body awakens, a part she isn't used to have!

But Zara is a girl of many means, and she plays all the better she can with what she have. And the fact that Ramsey is very attracted by Trevor, the twinkie in which body Zara is now, is a plus: Zara will finally have the man she is attracted, since this time she has the right body! Only that Trevor was a drugs addicted and his old friends are not all willing to leave him alone. And then there is also the problem of Travis, Trevor's twin, that understands since the first time they meet, that the soul inside Trevor's body is not his brother's one.

I like how the author manages Zara's transition from woman to man: since she awakens, Zara thinks and acts like a woman, but the first time she has sex with Ramsey, and she fully understand the difference between a woman and a man (with a first hand experience), she stops to be an "her" to become an "him".

I think this is the last in the series, unless the author wants to tell the story also of Travis (who is straight for now) and Trevor (who has the "little" problem to not having a material body in this moment...). All the story till now were a bit short, this one is less than 80 pages, but pretty original.

It took me two days to read this anthology and not since it wasn't interesting, but only since it's very long, so, if you like me usually don't like anthologies since the story are not long enough, you will not have the same problem with this one.

The stories inside it are very different, most of the authors I know, and some confirmed my good opinion on them and some surprised me, but always in a good way.

The Lindorm's Twin by Tracey Pennington (m/m): This is a fantasy tale that reminds me a very happy memory, a book of fairy tales that weren't so fair, if you think well at them. The tales passed mouth to mouth, from town to town, are dark and bloody, and not always with a "disney" happily ever after. Stefan is a fair prince of a fairy tale kingdom, but his parents didn't tell him that he was not the first born; he is the second on a pair of twin, but the other son was not a "normal" baby, it was a lindorm, and when Stefan is in age to marry, the lindorm pretends to have the right to marry first, since he is the first born. And so from beloved prince, Stefan finds himself without family and kingdom, and shelter in the arms of Andor, another dispossed prince, another man who suffered due to a wicked spell.

Desire and Disguise by Alex Beecroft (m/m): A little historical tale, but not a romance. Robert is deeply in love with his wife Lydia, even if really I don't know if he is more in love with her or with her body. Anyway, when Lydia found out she is pregnant and for all the pregnancy and also after, she refuses the access to her body to Robert, and he, worn out by desire, at the end searches solace with a demi-monde, or at least what he believes to be a woman of easy virtue... only to find out that he is no woman, but Mitchell, a man he also knows (when not dressed like a woman). Robert will learn that not all he believes is correct, and that the world is not black and white, and that maybe, he would be safer at home with his wife.

The Roaming Heart by Charlie Cochrane (m/m): Alasdair and Toby are the gold boys of the English movie industry at the beginning of the twenty century. All the fans wondering who will be their next conquest, the magazine would love to find something naughty about them, but no, they seems to be the perfect men, even if maybe with a soft point for women. What all the world doesn't know, is that Alasdair and Toby found their love, but not outside their bond, and what links them is not only a deep friendship. I like a lot this story since it has a very nice taste, a joy of life and the desire for something new and daring that often I found in tales setting in this period.

Outed by Clare London (m/m): Rob and Guy lives together, without flaunting it, but also without hiding. People around don't ask and they don't tell, since the innocent remark of an eighty dear woman (not so innocent maybe) sanctions what all know. And now the two can finally flaunt, if they want.

Lust in Translation by Storm Grant (m/m): Tyler is a cop who is having a crap night. Justin is a man who doesn't know what he is having, since he is lost in drugs he didn't know he was taking. When Tyler stops Justin on the street, he thinks the man to be a rent boy, but since it's raining, and the department has other things to do, and Tyler is not on duty, why not taking the man at home with him? and when they are warm and comfortable, why not having a bit of fun? Problem is that Tyler is allergic to any drugs, and thanks to a broken condom... well let us say that he "shares" Justin's essence. From a one night stand to something more is only a brief path, in a very nice and mostly funny story.

Making Memory by Lisabet Sarai (f/f): Nicole needs good memories and Maggie has plenty to share. Two women, momentarily alone, share a sweet night of talking and something more, but for now it's not the starting point for a new life together, maybe only a nice direction toward a better life with a different perspective.

Swansong by Sharon Maria Bidwell (m/m): Richard lives in a big house full of memories of his late wife and Neil thinks that it's time for him to move on... above all since Neil is now part of Richard's life. Neil is not demanding, he is only a comforting presence that helps Richard to take the necessary steps, not only regarding his home but also his life, even his sex life. Neil is always there, always with a gentle smile, and Richard knows that he is right, it's time for them to give new life and happy memories to that big house.

Finally Forever by Jeanne Barrack (m/m): a very funny and tender telephone call between Manny and Rafe, long distance lovers that finally will move together: from utility to the big question, LOVE, Manny and Rafe check the list for the recipe of how to build a perfect life together.

Code of Honour by Marquesate (m/m): Joe and Roux, legionnaires and lovers, show that once a soldier, you are always a soldier, even in your private life. And so Joe, that is Roux's subordinate, at first follows Roux's rule, like a good soldier, but it's not love since the day that Joe will learn that, in love there are no rule. Joe is young and not so steady on his feet; he has a lot to learn, not only as a soldier. Roux is more experienced and willing to share his knowledge with Joe. Maybe at first it's only lust, but with time, both men will discover that also for them there is a change to be happy and in love.

Tango and Temptation by ZA Maxfield (m/m): Gabriel teaches tango to the future brides and grooms, eight lessons and they will be perfect on their wedding day. It's not expected, and also quite a disaster, that Gabriel falls in love with Xander, one of the groom, above all since Gabriel really believes in love and family and all, and Xander has no intention to break up with his future spouse... but the ballroom is a sly devil, and a move here, a slow dance there, and a near proximity that allows Gabriel to "feel" something he is not suppose to feel, and Xander plans maybe have to be revised...

The Mistake by P.A. Brown (m/m): Very nice little story about a young guy, Rusty, who finds himself in a very bad situation and of the big but good cop who helps him. Rusty is not an hustler, but to be hungry is not good, and when he is offered a lot of money for a night, well, let say the pags decide for him. Obviously is not a situation fated to end in a good way if not for the cavalry that arrives in his rescue, a big knight in shining armor named Hank. From letting someone having his way with him for money, to almost offer himself to Hank is a short distance, and this time the right decision also.

Holy Macaroni (and Cheese) by Allison Wonderland (f/f): for Teri and Ariel marriage was not an hard decision, at six years old they were very firm in their decision. Confirm it in the later years maybe was harder, but they manage. And nor Teri or Ariel ever regretted that long time ago children ceremony, that would be glad to have also now.

The Snow Queen by Erastes (m/m): Josh lost his lover Sam and he is not sure to be ready to love again. He is cold and the cold outside well reflects his mood. But then he meets Sean and his cute daughter Bess, and maybe a sparks of light enter the icy prison around his heart. Open up, let the ice melt... maybe is not a bad idea. Erastes almost surprised me with this story: cure little kids and happy penguins in the snow? I was almost expecting for an Harlequin type of ending, with a commitment ceremony and the little daughter with the pillow and the rings on it...

Better Than Beautiful by Zoe Nichols & Cassidy Ryan (f/f): Charlotte is the famous top model and Becca is little secret. Becca is always there, always supporting, always waiting for Charlotte to be ready to be off the scene, no more available to all the world, but finally only her. But Charlotte fears the day in which the world will no more see here, since she is a model, and being beautiful is the only thing she always did good. It's up to Becca convinces her that she is better than beautiful.

Semi-detached by Emma Collingwood (m/m): James and Thomas have a real strange relationship; James is an apparently happy and openly gay man, with a beautiful apartment and friends and comfort life. Thomas is an average man who said he is not gay and neither bisexual, he only loves James, and well, even if James is a man, that doesn't mean he is gay. How they met I don't know (even I'm very curious), but they seem to have a pretty ordinary life, they seem happy, but maybe James is afraid of the day when he will ask something more to Thomas, something that maybe the man is not ready to give him... and maybe Thomas will surprise him.

Rules of the Game by Mallory Path (m/m): Charlie plays along the rules, and since Noah prefers to be a top, Charlie never asked him to be a bottom. But Charlie is wondering, if maybe, sometime the rules can be changed...

Templeton's In Love by Jerry L. Wheeler (m/m): A very nice tale, both sad and tender. Tom and Stan were happy together, but they were also young and careless. When life asked its toll, it was heavy and neither of them was strong enough to save what they have. Regrets and remorses didn't help, and years later Tom is still wondering how it could be if... One thing they had in common, Carmine's supper Club and Ristorante and Templeton who sang there for his lover Taylor. But Taylor died and Templeton's songs with him. So when Tom sees that Templeton is singing again, he thinks that maybe Templeton is in love again, and if he can still love, maybe also Tom...

True Love by Moondancer Drake (f/f): Shona and Kai are finally having their baby, and this gives all another perspective in what they believe. In different way, both of them want to shout to the world that they are in love, Kai wants to marry Shona with a big ceremony, and Shona wants to have her name on their son's birth certificate. For now it's only a dream, but if something changes...

Salad Days by Fiona Glass (m/m): A little family scene, Tim and Jake, living together. Jake is a tornado, always chatting, always moving. Tim is quite and shy, barely speaking... but Tim is always thinking, always wanting to say something, that instead he takes aback, fearing to upset Jake. But a stupid accident breaks lose Tim's restrains and for once he will let Jake without words.

Wedding Announcement by Lee Rowan (m/m): barely a scene, actually a telephone call, with two characters I know well, Kevin and John from Walking Wounded. In my previous review of that book, I stated that, according to me, Kevin had some unresolved trouble with his father and this influenced his present life. Here probably there is a confirmation of my idea, with Kevin that has to find the courage to call his father to tell his that he is having a commitment ceremony with the man he loves.

All profits from the sale of this anthology will be donated to the Lambda Legal Defense to fight Prop 8 in support of marriage equality for all.

In this second adventure Mikael and Katjin go to the Highlands, in the land where is whispered that demons live, to learn how to live and use their blood bond. They are only young boys, 16 years old, too young to bring on their bond into a physical one, but maybe they are approaching the time when the bond will be no more like a child play (touch me, don't touch me) and more something that involves desire and jealousy.

In the Highlands, Kat has to face the fact that Mik is no more only his, he is no more a secret, he is no more an helpless boy he has to help and treat has a new toy. Mik is someone like him, and he can be also stronger than him. Kat starts to feel new emotions, jealousy toward Mik and his new powers, and jealousy toward Aidan, the Highlander who has an unsettling interest in Mik, an interest that Kat doesn't like.

As you can understand, both Mik than Kat are growing and with them is growing their relationship, even if, for now, it still remains the bud of a possible future real relationship. For now, it's still something new, something to explore and understand. The setting is a fantasy land, the bond they have is a magical thing, but all in all, the problems Mik and Kat have to face are the same an everyday teenager has to face: the strange feelings he feels for the boy that till yesterday was only his best friend, the possessive urges he has to keep him apart from the world, to make him his own possession, even if he still doesn't know how to do so.

In this second book there is more insight in Mikael's past and family, and in this way we can understand better him and his fears; in the previous book, Mikael was in someway the weaker one, he was not in his habit and so he needs more protection; even if Kat was his same age, he was more self-conscious and able to face the world. Now, both Kat and Mik are strangers in a stranger land, and both of them have to learn new ways and custom; and probably, since for Mik is not the first time, he is more ready to mend than Kat, and so he gains force and arises to almost a pair level to Kat, causing the insecurity in the other boy.

Again it's not a conclusive book in Kat and Mik's story, the boys are not yet fully grown, their life journey is not ended, probably it will end only when they will become adult.

Look at that cover: no naked chests, no passionate embraces, no kissing with glorious flags on the background... an old boot and a piece of camouflage cloth. What can you understand from that cover? that this is an hard book without romance? That you will find sex but not love? That the two main characters are all manly and without feelings? yes and no, yes and no, yes and no...

Sergeant Alex Turner is a scarred man, not only in body but also deep in his soul. He trusted a person, a woman, his wife and he was frustrated. Coming home from a mission that almost cost him his life, he didn't find a warm embrace and a comforting body, he found the cold refusal of a woman that couldn't see past his marked body. And Alex turned for the embrace toward the Army, a family that never disappointed him, even if he didn't expected to find also the comforting body. Even if he doens't show it, Alex has mental scars that run deeply than the visual ones: he probably thinks to have failed, that he didn't deserve to be still alive, that he now doesn't deserve to have a normal life and to feel pleasure again. These are the barriers he has in his mind, but also his body has some idea for his own: wounded in what are the most intimate and fragile parts of a man, he can't react to a gentle touch, since it's too light for the shield he built around himself, the reaction can only be forced, through a strong and authoritative touch.

Sergeant Tom Warren is Alex's buddy friend, the man with whom he spends all his free time, the one that probably helped him to fill a void. But Tom can't hide no more: he doesn't want Alex as a friend, he wants the man in every way he can. Tom enlisted when he was 16 years old, when he wasn't meat or fish, when he wasn't a man. Growing up, Tom realized that he preferred men, and in way or another he always fulfilled his desires. But now his mind, and body, wants Alex, and Alex's is not available... or so he thinks. When a fist fight with his friend over the discovery that Tom is gay, ends in a burst of unexpected sex, Tom and Alex have to find a way to go on.

Alex accepts Tom's attentions like an unavoidable thing, like something he searches only when he can no more deny his body, a body that has decided to respond only to Tom's. Tom accepts Alex's unwilling surrender like the only way to be with the man he desperately wants. Is it love? maybe. Tom interprets his feelings as lust over Alex's body, better over Alex's scarred body: the scars for Tom are like symbols of Alex's strenght, the testimony that he survived; he almost feels guilty to be so aroused by something that witnesses Alex's pain. In a way Alex, who unlike Tom's never admits to be gay, is more sincere, since he instead admit that it's not Tom's body that turns him on, it's Tom, apart from the fact that he is a man, or gay, or whatsoever.

There is only one thing that I don't like of the book: that it's too short (142 pages in print version)! While reading faster than I can to see what it happened next, I was also thinking, or damn, I'm at mid book, it's almost finished! and I would liked for it to have still more to read. And I forgot to mention that obviously, the military part of the story is convincing and heroic, all male and proud and adventures filled... but well, I'm a romantic at heart and so I was led astray from the romance!

This one is a little surprise. Usually light romance (not the angsty type) are about perfect characters who are wealthy and handsome, or poor but with dreams, or Cinderfella meet Prince Charming, or Beauty and the Beast, or hot Cowboys under the sun, or sexy Firefighters. This one is about two... salesmen! All right they work in one of the most chic boutique on the Fifth Avenue at New York but still salesmen. And maybe it's like an old cliche, which said that all the stewarts and salesmen are gay, but well, once a time I like very much to read of "normal" characters.

Country boy Tim, 20 years old and still hoping to become a professional dancer, arrived at NY to frequent NYU and soon he found a job as salesman. Now 5 years later he is a successful salesman in one of the big store and he still frequent his classes but maybe, very deep inside himself, he knows that he will be forever a good salesman and never an avergare dancer. He is handsome, and he has had his share of hot guys to spend the nights, but now he is ready for something more steady. Something or... someone? Like Colin maybe, Armani tuxedo Colin, perfetly trim blond hair Colin, icy blue eyes Colin, top salesman Colin, forty years old Colin. Four years before, when Tim met for the first time Colin, he felt head over heels for the man, but Colin was in a relationship with a 21 years old businessman and he was very committed and faithful. So Tim has spent the next years admiring him from afar. But now they work in the same store area and Colin now is free, having lost his lover one year before.

The two characters are wonderfully written. Tim is a tender guy with maybe starry eyes, and not so cultured and sophisticated, but he is a good guy, who has managed to find his way in life and now, even if only 25 years old, is ready to settle down. Colin is a perfect glamour fashion man, always impeccable, always polite. He is not jelaous of other men, not cause he is ego, but cause he is too perfect to become conscious of everyone around him. But he is not nasty. He is too perfect to be nasty! The age difference between Tim and Colin, even if not remarked by the author, is clearly. Colin is controlled and aloof, the reader is not surprised that he has had a relationship with a 21 years older man, he is clearly written in every move. Colin is not the type of one night stand, is not the type of sex at first date. He is not a man driven by his passion. He will make wait Tim, he will drive the relationship at his pace. If Tim wants him, he has to gain him. He has to be worthy to stay with him.

From what I have written, you will think that Colin is not a positive character, and instead I like him very much. I think at him like a character of an old Hollywood comedy, a Cary Grant type. And I think he is the center of the story, around him all the other characters, even Tim, but he has a bright of his own.

Trick Of Silver (Calendar Boys - October) by Jamie Craig

I have never been attracted to the idea of men in dress... I like my men fully men! But I can admit without problem that sometime a man in dress looks better than a woman (have you ever seen Priscilla the Queen of the Desert? Guy Pierce in dress? if yes, you know what I mean).

So this story begins with Darren, a paranormal special agent, a werewolf hunter, who has the mission to kill Aden, an alpha male framed with a string of recent kills. I actually haven't understood for sure why Darren should be dress as a woman on the Halloween party he goes to find Aden, since the purpose to lure Aden better as woman rather than as a man is not the reason; au countraire, Aden seems a lot more interested in Darren when he finds that he is a man, the hunt is more exciting in that way.

Anyway, Darren thinks at Aden as the enemy, an enemy to destroy, but he can't help to be attracted by the man. Darren is not a werewolf, but when he is near Aden, he is like a bitch in heat. Darren is not an helpless man, he can be lethal, but he is more than willing to give up the control to Aden. Is not a "sweet love" feeling, is hundred per cent lust: Darren forgets his mission and his beliefs for a chance to be on the same bed, or wherever else, with Aden.

Aden likes to play. He has a target in mind, but he has no problem to reach the target and at the same time play with Darren. And if something else comes out, even better, he can always do with another member in his pack. Again is not a question of love, love is never mention in the book, for real, not even one time in all the almost 90 pages!

Trick of Silver is a paranormal Halloween romp, full of sex, flesh and blood... enjoy your plate!

Over Here (Calendar Boys - November) by Jamie Craig

During the WWII, Harvey and Zach were all for each other: fellow soldiers, friends, lovers. But then Harvey was badly injured and sent home and instead Zach had to spend another 20 months fighting and killing. Knowing that the man he loved was alive somewhere was enough for Zach to go on, but when nor a letter or a message arrived from Harvey, Zach though that his friend had moved on with his life, a life in which loving Zach was not allowed.

Ten years after, during the first official Veterans Day, Zach decides that he is tired to try to forget the only man he loves and goes to find Harvey to at least have his official goodbye. What he finds his a man who has never moved on, a man who waits for every day to pass without a reason. Harvey is not married, he has not a family, he is alone. When Harvey went in war 12 years before, he knew that he preferred men, but in his little town he never had any chance to find his love. He found him in Zach, and when he was sent back at home, he thought that it was his fate, and that Zach should remain only an happy memory. Harvey thinks it's not possible for two men to openly love and live together, and what they had in the cold night during the war is the only thing they could have.

Zach is not of the same idea, he lives in a city and not in a small town like Harvey, and he knows that, if they don't flaunt too much their real relationship, they can have an happy life together.

I like this story, it's really sweet and tender. There is the sad memory of the war, but it's a distant thing and weights more the love between Harvey and Zach rather than the violence and the death. And I like both characters, the introvert Harvey, always weighting the things, always cautious, but ready to open to love; and I like Zach, dominant but gentle, not impulsive, but sure of what he wants and strong enough to reach for it.

The story is not long, less than 70 pages, but it's right and complete in its shortness.

Caleb is a confederate soldier of a renegade army. He is also a werecat and has a serious problem: during the full moon he changes automatically and can't prevent that. So happens also this time but during the first night he finds another werecat, Brance. Brance is wonded and rough, not at all friendly. But he is the first werecat Caleb has ever met, and Caleb is eager of companionship. And so he insinuates himself on Brance's life.

But the morning after he discovers that Brance is a union soldier, an enemy. But not a Caleb's enemy. Caleb is not fighting for an ideal, he has joined the army only to leave his home, and now that he has found a man he can trust with all himself, as human and werecat, he is not ready to lose him.

This is a very good weres story. The two men pass most of the time together in shifted form and when they are in that form they act like an animal not like a human. They are instinct and wild. And so their animal nature will win on their rational human form? Soldiers on opposite front could be lovers in the same paranormal world they share?

I like very much J.M. Snyder's style. She is very good in write realistic story setting in irrealistic world (paranormal or futuristic). Her characters are true even if they are paranormal being and enthral you in few pages.

This is probably one of the less "dreamy" book I read by Victor J. Banis, means that it's pretty down to earth and direct and open, but probably also among my favorite, Lola Dances still has the first place, but this one is very near. I like Victor J. Banis' style, but one thing I almost always regretted, that in the end the two main characters don't walk toward the sunset together; only Lola did, and this is the reason since she is first on my list. Since Deadly Nightshade is only first on a series with the same characters, well, it's not exactly that you will find an happily ever after in there, but it's really close, and I have to say that the closing scene is quite romantic.

Tom is a good homicide detective, but he has not the right skill for the case: a drag queen is killing men around the city, and, well, Tom doesn't know a thing about the dark side of life. And so he is paired with Stanley, that is suddenly promoted detective only for the fact that he is gay. Better Stanley is queer, and he has it written in all he is, small, stylish, intrusive. Stanley never let it go anything, he picks every little fight, he needs to be acknowledge, probably since in his life too many person let him go.

Tom is quite a simple man, not at all the perfect cop... or at least not the perfect fiction cop: divorced (and one of the reason for that is that he was cheating around), disenchanted, not so handsome... let me say that probably he is not a man for whom women swoon. But he has something other than his gruff exterior, an awkwardness, I don't know, like Stanley, probably I think that he is unable to be really bad. For how much big and strong he is, I believe that Stanley could be more lethal.

Anyway Stanley has a thing for him, and he manages to have the man in bed; as expected Tom doesn't protest too much (see what I said above), but it's like he unwillingly surrender to Stanley. Even if Tom likes Stanley, Tom is really straight; in many stories I read where a "straight" man turns gay, he has mental boundaries, but usually his body speaks for him, usually they are attracted from the other man. Here instead Tom can go off with Stanley, no problem, but he is always embarrassed by the fact that Stanley is a man... in a way, Tom loves Stanley, since he IS Stanley, but the main obstacles is that Stanley is a man: having him in a woman body would be better... Said that, it's strange that in the most intimate act they can share, it's Tom that takes the submissive position, but it's another time when Tom proves that he really loves the other man, even if he didn't speak the words.

Probably the main character of the book is Stanley, with his quirk behavior, and his way to investigate, judging a suspect by the way he furnishes the house or choose the curtains, but who stole my heart is Tom. I'm really interest in seeing how he evolves in the future books.

Gym Dandy is a story that has many surprises, mostly good surprise. Victor is a personal trainer in a not so good gym; an old and decaying buildings, not so nice work colleague, it's not wonder that Victor seems not to like too much his work. I realized after finishing the book, that I haven't a clear physical perception of Victor, other than he should be fit, dur to his work, but not so handsome: a man who arrives where he wants thanks more to his attitude than to his look. And even if Victor has an ex-wife, he is quite openly gay, even if it's not the first thing he says as presentation. And so when he meets for the first time Doug, new customer at the gym who paid for personal lessons, and Doug gives him some mixed signals, Victor is ready to jump in for an enjoyable adventure, since even if not so fit, Doug is really handsome and cute. But even if he is not disgusted by the kiss Victor gives him, Doug is firm in his claim that he is straight, and that he wants only friendship from Victor.

It's clear to all the readers, that Doug has some unresolved issues in his past. Even in his behavior he is broadcasting clear signals of not being comfortable in his skin; Doug is quite shy, never looking directly in face of the person he is talking to, but if you manage to find a breach in his shield, he is like an uncontrollable falls, throwing himself in a soliloquy where it's almost impossible to interfere with. And he is so tender in his plain admission of loneliness and in his desire to find a friend, that Victor, even if dumped, can't help to volunteer to be that friend.

Victor is a strange character, and someone that have a very surprising turn in the story. He is clearly fascinated by Doug, but as he could be for an exotic bird (no pun intended...): he looks and listens to Doug as if he was expecting for him to turn in a strange being, he can't believe that Doug is so naive and innocent at his age. And Doug for sure unveils some quite unbelievable events in his past, that also the reader has some problem to understand: for example, all the story about his father and his undercover cop friend, I still am not sure if I really understood its meaning if not for giving a background of loneliness to Doug. Instead the story with his jock best friend from high school, helped me to look into the present Doug in a different way, and all what happened to him till the present day is a quite normal and right evolution for someone in that situation.

It's strange, since the story is told from Victor's point of view, but he himself remains almost a secret; during the book, we read of Doug's journey, how he changes and mistakes, how he, maybe unintentionally, wounds Victor's feelings. All in all, even if not a brainiac man, Victor is really tender, he really wants to help Doug without second intentions; but almost till the end of the book, I feel as I didn't really know him. Sometime something happened that let me wonder for a minute or two, like when they met his friends, and he didn't want for Doug to say where he works, but then Doug's story distracted me, and I almost forgot what made me wonder.

There are some funny moments, even when they should be dramatic, like when Victor tells his changing life experience, or when Doug, in one of his soliloquies, tells how he lost his father, and those make the book even more interesting: I didn't know if I should take them seriously or laugh... well, just the fact that they make me wonder is a proof that they were original.

Finally the relationship between Victor and Doug: I really start this book convinced that, in a way or another, they would end out together; yes, maybe with some obstacles to overtake, but in the end together... and instead more I read and more I was unsure. Where exactly was the author going to? maybe what I believed was not correct? was it possible that the book had all another ending?... well, again, just the fact that she makes me wonder is a proof that ALL this story is original.

This is definitely an unusual gay romance, but once that I have no problem to recommend to who likes wonderful main characters, a bunch of worthy supporting characters and a fascinating and detailed setting, plus it has all the flavor of an old classic english comedy.

Robert is a grumpy ex cop now mystery writer; he doesn't like the city, he doesn't like the crow, he really doesn't like either the cultural circles he has to frequent to promote his books. He has the fame to be caustic and unpleasant, always criticizing the poor attempt at literature to whom he considers only amateur. Thanks to a sudden availability of money (he sold the right of one of his books for a movie), he decides to leave the city to find a secluded place in the country: Larton seems correspond to the characteristic he is searching, far from all the main route, without any particular historical interest, it's the perfect place. Robert bought the east lodge of a decrepit georgian mansion, while the dispossessed owner of the mansion lives now in the west lodge. He hasn't had the pleasure to meet the man, a army officer who is often abroad, but all around the village he listens to the gossip about him and his brothers and sisters, old name landowners that now have difficult to make the ends meet.

When finally Robert meets Michael he is surprised to find out that he is almost his age (don't know exactly, but I believe they are over forty at the beginning of the story), and all in all he is a pleasant man to frequent (Robert has no particular love for the old aristocracy... well truth be told, it seems that Robert has no particular love for the human genre at all, he is only fond of cats). Well Michael has a great fault, he is very much in love with his horses, and he drags Robert around on horse fairs and various events, cementing a bond that, later in the book, we understand is not only friendship. There is no big love declaration, but a slow and continuous taking possession Robert's time, till the moment in which Robert declares to Michael his availability to give a try to "them", to live together.

Michael and Robert set up home together, Michael with his dog and horses, Robert with his cats and books, Michael with his paddock, Robert with his garden, Michael with his incapacity to deal with money, Robert with his scrupulous family budget: fantastic the scene in which Robert clear the bank balance of Michael as Christmas present, telling him that in this way he has no more to worry, and Michael was never worried from the first.

It's very good as the author accompanies the reader through Michael and Robert's relationship, passing from friendship to love without any shock, with a natural flowing. I found charming when I read Robert remembering an event of their life for the second time in the book, and at first I though it was a forgetfulness of the author, but when it happened again I realized that it was a way for the author to prove to the reader that Michael and Robert was becoming an "old" couple, with a lot in common, with their happy moment, but also with their little quarrels, with joy and sadness. All around them, the crazy family of Michael, classic dispossessed aristocrats who still want to live like 100 years before, and all the people in the village, who welcomed Robert as a lost son, and are only happy that he decides to take care of the daredevil who was Michael.

There is no sex in the book, or at least, no sex that the reader witnesses: when it's the moment for Michael and Robert to have their private moments, the reader is gently pushed out the room, and they do what they want behind closed door. The behavior of the village and of the relatives is the same: we all know that something is happening between them, but it's not matter to speak... no sex please, we are English! Anyway, I didn't miss it, I was more than happy with their tender moment, and the aftermath that found them cuddling in front of the fire, or lamenting that they are too old to do such things.

True North is one of that typical story setting in a small town, where everyone knows what his neighbor is doing; the only difference, and maybe what made it so nice, is that is setting in Canada, and so Julian and Jack's love, even if not totally in the open, it's at least accepted and also facilitated by relatives (Julian's sister and Jack's mother).

Julian is originally from the small town, but he went to study medicine in the big city, and for a period he lived there. The life and some bad experiences, and his sister, convinced him to come back in small town, since life is easier and love is more available. Jack is not from there, but he is from another similar small town in Canada, and he likes this type of life, with its slow rhythm and the easiness which you make friend: everyone is out to give an hand if necessary, and Jack is not less than the other, he carpools the sons of his friends, he plays on Saturday in the only pub of the town, he is famous as a gentle man but prone to accident.

And so, when for a countless time, he ends in hospital, Julian patches him up and not only; since everything is simpler, it doesn't pass too much time that Julian and Jack are a steady thing, even if at first there are some misunderstandments. Julian doesn't hide the fact that he is gay but neither flaunts it; Jack instead has no problem to admit that he prefers the company of men, but he is still in the closet with his mother, and so he prefers to be very discreet. Jack is not a bad guy, but Julian needs to be accepted in all he is and he needs to "hear" those words of acceptance, since he was scarred in the past. Overcome this problem between them, there is still one question or two, but all in all their story is settled and fated for an happily ever after.

The really original touch in the story are all the female characters, some with very important roles, like Roz, Julian's sister, or Flo, Jack's mother, and someone else with lesser roles, but not less interesting, like Brenda, the owner of the pub, or Bella, Jack's aunt, or Hallie, one of the kid Jack carpools around... if you think well at it, this book, even if it's about two men, it's full of women! But in this way I have no problem, they didn't interfere with the two men... or at least, if they interfere is to bring the two men together. At the end, Julian and Jack have to share the scene with all these women, and sometime the women stole them the scene.

True North is a really nice book, tender and easy, without too much angst but with a very comfortable feeling.

When I was a teen I was deeply fascinated by the Native American culture. Two of my favorite books were Dee Brown's Buy My Heart at Wounded Knee (that I searched for a bit since when I was young the Italian version of that book was out of stock) and a book who tried to tell from a different point of view the spanish "Conquest", and for this reason the title was 2941 (1492 on the other verse). Unfortunately they were never light books, since it's not easy to write of the Native Americans and be light, there is so little joy in that period for them. More when you think that most of the tribes were peaceful like the Dinè (Navajo). For this reason I like this book, since it didn't take with lightness the matter, but it gave also hope to the story of the two main characters.

William Lee, ex southern son of a preacher, left his home in disgrace after that his father found him in a barn with a young male friend... and it was obvious that they were not only friends. With some luck from his side (or maybe not after he realized in what he ended up), he became apprentice for the Indian Agent at Fort Summer, only to find out that the previous Agent is vanished and he is now the new Agent. But this is not the only surprise for William: he went in the Indian reserve believing to find almost a lost paradise, where the Native Americans are leaving in peace and prosperity, thanks to the unselfish help of the white men. And instead the reserve is more or less a detention field, and the Navajos there are slowly dying from starvation, since there is no way for them to farm the land or the herd the sheep. And if they are not dying from natural causes, they are killed from the soldiers who instead of take them safe, are using them as personal play things.

Probably William didn't arrive at the reserve with noble idea of being a saviour, even if a bit of his father's lessons probably still are inside him, but now that he is there, he can't help to feel sympathy for this people, even more since among them he meets Hasbaa, a Two-Spirits, a man who has inside him also the spirit of a woman. Hasbaa considers himself a widow, since he lost his warrior's lover and to show his grief he chose to wear only as a woman and to renounce to all the physical joy that he can find with another man. Since no one among the Native Americans treats him in a different way or looks at him in a strange way since he dresses like a woman, no one outside the reserve knows that Hasbaa is a man. William is deeply surprised, but also fascinated, to see that there is a way for him to love a man, and live happy. I don't know if William decides to help the Native Americans to have a chance with Hasbaa or if he really wants to help them, but in a way or another, William makes his the right of his new people.

As I said, I like this book, because, even if faithful to the story, it's not a sad book. It was really an easy ready that will make happy the history lover as well as the romantic reader. I believe that Hasbaa is a really historic accurate character, and even if he is a very good romance hero, he still remain faithful to his time and period. This good blend between history and romance probably is due to the good mix of the two authors that arrive from different origins, but come together to write a very moving but at the same time tender book.

I think that the moral of this story is that love has not sex... and don't get me wrong since now I will explain why.

Evan is a NYPD Vice detective. He is the perfect good boy, a wife, four children, a suburban house. His life is perfect till the day his wife is killed in a car accident. After that Evan is lost: Sherri was his highschool sweetheart, they met when they were 14 years old and there was no other woman in his life; they grew together and Evan was perfectly happy, really. He never regretted to marry at 18 years old and to have soon after his first child. And now at 34 years old he is still young, but he seems to not have any reason to live if not his children.

Matt is a former NYPD Homicide detective. He trod on the toes of the wrong people and he was reassigned to patrol car service in Staten Island. Not suffering to fake his policeman role, he resigned and now he works in a security firm. But he is alone; the police department was his home, he has no family, and he seems to have no any purpose to go on.

Matt and Evan meet in a pub with a beer between them. They recognize the mutual loneliness and they make an unusual alliance; whenever Evan can have a night free from the kids, they meet at the same pub. They talk of work, sport, and whatever else two men can talk, but not of feelings or of the real reason they are together, that they are both alone. When Matt starts to realize that he has feelings for his friend, he is stunned: he has never had the same reaction to another man, he has always gone along well with women.

This is a love story, but I believe that this is also the tale of a deeply friendship. Both men have their reason to seek a gay relationship, even if maybe they don't realize it. Evan was so in love with his wife, that the thought of a new relationship with another woman is impossible, it would be a betrayal, like losing his wife again; loving a man is different, Matt is completely different from his wife, pun intended, and also the feelings and the sex is different. Evan can have both Matt and his wife memory at the same time, without having the feeling to betray one of them.

Matt sees in Evan the family he never had. Since he has always considered the Police Department his family, the fact that Evan is a detective is even better, it's something more that links them. And then Evan has a real family just ready to be picked and loved. Loving Evan in a physical way is easy since with him arrives an heavy luggage that Matt is eager to share. And loving Evan is also a way to re-enter the Police Department family he lost.

There is sex in this romance? Yes there is, but it's the sex you would expect from two apparently straight men who get together: clumsy, tentative, tender and sweet. It's always strange when you read about two men that should know nothing about gay sex, and that from the first time seems that they are playing in a porn; instead Matt and Evan don't know nothing and have also some fears, and you read and understand it. But they try and trying they are so sweet.

It's the first book I read by Tere Michaels, and it's also a very long book, 330 pages, but I hope not the last.

Kate Steele is specialized in Alpha male werewolves dealing with Omega puppy. In this new book Mick is a special agent of the Werewolf interstate security agency; he is asked to intervene in a very delicate situation, an Alpha male pack leader who has gone over the legal limit: he killed a newly made werewolf, a barely seventeen guy, and now he has another boy in his clutches. Rio was a runaway boy and an hustler; eighteen years old, small and cute he is totally unable to oppose to the big werewolf and there is also another problem: he was turned, but the psycho Alpha male interrupted his first changing, causing him a lot of pain and to fear his new wolf side.

Remove from the story the pervert is not a big deal for Mick, but dealing with the newborn werewolf is not so simple. There are a lot of issue that are against an involvement with Rio: first Mick is way older than the kid, 47 years to 18 years, and second the kid is passed through a lot of very bad experience, always connected to sexuality, and so Mick is not so sure that it's a good thing for Rio to be mated with an Alpha male werewolf. "Imposing" a sexual relationship to a traumatized boy is the last thing Mick desires. But let the boy go and find a more suitable companion is not an option for the wolf inside Mick.

The story deals mostly with Mick and Rio's relationship, and even if starts with a quite angst prologue (a underage gay hustler), it's not angst at all. True Rio has a bit of problem regarding sex and his sexuality, but he manages them pretty well and they are soon overcome. Also the age issue is not so emphasized, since both Mick than Rio, as werewolves, have another concept of aging: Mick at 47 years old is not a man in his middle age, but it's still a quite young wolf. Actually he is older than Rio's father, who is 39 years old, but this fact is not at all highlighted, and James, Rio's father, in comparison to Mick, has the role of the "old man", save an unpredictable turn of event at the end of the story (I really would like for Kate Steele to write also James' story).

There is a lot of sex, but it's easy and funny, like often is in Kate Steele's works. This is a pretty "classic" werewolf story, with the strong Alpha and the cute Omega, and there aren't switch on the classical path: never once Rio doubts what is his role in the relationship, and never once Mick falters in his firm belief that he need to dominate but also to direct Rio on the right path.

There various type of futuristic romance, but I have in mind three main genre: the one I tagged Back to the Future, in which the futuristic setting resembles a past world, where people are back to living as in the eighteen century or even Middle Ages; then there is the Apocalypse Now setting, where the world that we actually know doesn't exist no more and people lives in an eternal war zone; finally there is the aseptic future, where people are deprived of emotions, where every single planet, or star, or moon in the universe is a "new" colony, but where the real world is only a cherished memory. Both stories in this collection fall in this last setting.

Dark Robe Heart: Dark Robe Society 1 by Jason Edding: Jack Harrow is the endless clone of himself. He is more than four hundred years old, but only his brain remembers it, his body is sparkling new, designed to please the whims of his owner. Jack Harrow is a very wealthy man, with the chance to live forever, how many lifes he likes, but he is not happy. Being immortal has an high price and Jack is not so sure that he is still willing to pay it. But leaving the Dark Robe society is like signing your death sentence. Jack is running away, trying to reach a new colony by the name of Europa: everything in this story has a long lost memory flavor, even the name of the planet that could be Jack new land (how strange, in the past when people went searching for a New World they were leaving Europa, and here instead Jack is searching to reach it). During his travel he meets Edge, a young cadet that is travelling toward Europa to start his term of service; like the new life Jack is searching, Edge is new and somewhat innocent, he tickles feelings in Jack that he has never felt in a long time, maybe he never felt. Problem is that Jack knows that there is an assassin out there sent to kill him, and he doesn't want to involve Edge in his run for life. The story is strange, for how much aseptic is the world in which is setting, and detached is Jack with this world and his life, when Jack and Edge are together, they are even too much "down and dirty"; they do things that only in a porn movie you can find... I wonder if this is a metaphor... when you are so detached from your true feeling, you can only feel through your body, and more physical stimulus you can find, more real will feel what you are doing?

The Bright Side of Midnight by Angela Fiddler: this is almost a tragedy; a man whom father and brother betray the colony in which they were leaving, returns back to that same colony to study a virus killing the miners. The man who finances his research is the same man who wants to find his brother at every cost. And Tavish, our hero, falls in love with the man's son, Jordan. But as in all tragedy worthy of this name, also Jordan is dying from that same illness and to delay the unavoidable, he had become addicted to the Dope, a drug that has the power to modify the mood. Who is really Jordan? What does he want from Tavish? Is he another weapon in the hand of his father? There are a lot of characters that came out from this story, Jordan, Fox (Jordan's father's pet slave), Thomas (Tavish's brother), even Royal, Tavish's former lover, but of all of them, the one that really doesn't come out is Tavish. He is a reclusive hero, very few time we share his feelings and emotions, and I really didn't understand his reason to come back to the mining colony. The story ends quite abruptly, something is explained but a lot of points are still pending. I have the feeling that the author is not yet finished with these characters.

Truth be told, both stories have not a real ending point, but I know that Jason Edding has ready a new chapter in his series. Of the two, his story was the one that was heavier on the futuristic setting, he also gave a lot of details to explained the past story of his characters, and the reason why the world is like that; Angela Fiddler's story instead is almost ageless, it could be well being set even in an historical era and still sounds the same: the reason why of its existence it was not the futuristic setting, but the betrayal that lies inside the inner circle of a family, a story old like the time.

Blaise Risner, the captain of a small cargo ship, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Confederation Army is dealing with some nasty attack to their ship and space colony, and they blame the pirates, and so the attention is very high. In normal time, probably Blaise would skip the control, but now he is arrested for smuggling, piracy and other minor violation. Since he can't avoid to admit the smuggling crime, he tries to negotiate for the other two accusation and Admiral Peter Keller is willing to listen to him. Peter is not new to similar arrangements with his prisoners: a sentence to hard labor commuted to service him as personal assistant... very personal assistant. More the prisoners are stubborn, and more Peter likes to bend them (pun intended).

If you stick to the romance rules, what Peter does to Blaise could easily be classified as non consensual sex, since Blaise at first claims that, if he had a choice, he would have never submitted to Peter. But truth be told, he doesn't protest so much, and for what I can understand, he enjoyed every single encounter with Peter, even the first one. What I like of the story is that the sexual relationship evolves with them: at first it's obviously only sex, Peter has not a personal interest in Blaise if not since the man is an interesting sex partner that gives him a lot of satisfaction. But more they are together and more their relationship deepens, but always remaining primarily a sexual one: there is not many chances for Blaise or Peter to know each other other than in a sexual way, they don't speak a lot; who they are and what they like is all communicated through sex.

Peter is obviously the domineering character, even if he is not the stronger in a physical way, actually I have the feeling, even if I'm not sure, that he is even leaner and smaller than Blaise. But he has for sure the attitude of a leader and he is used to the command; he lives his personal life as he lead his spaceship: no one questions his orders. Problem is that, on the other side, Blaise instead has the classical behavior of a rebel, he is not used to be ordered around, but he will find out that, in some cases, he likes it. It's not clear if Blaise, before Peter, have already realized that he has a submissive nature in bed, but he will discover it with Peter. There is not doubt that in bed this two work in a very good way, all the trouble arrives when they are out of the bedroom. They are both very stubborn, and they don't know how to communicate; they arrive to hasty conclusion even before having taken the time to analyze all the possible side of a problem.

The book is quite long and it's a very classic futuristic novel, even if the reader has not many chances to see the two heroes among other people or outside the bedroom, but in the few cases when it happened, the setting is light and enjoyable, there is not the usual heavy use of detailed description to force the reader to understand a different and fictional world.

Two of the most dear heroes of the historical gay romance fiction have in this novel their third adventure. From the discovery of their love under dangerous situation in the first book, passing through the climax of an almost separation in the second, the third book is almost an aftermath. Nor William or David never doubted their love, but the fear is always there and they need to find a way to stay together.

William thought to be able to leave David to a normal life, a wife and possible a son, but David was not of the same idea. And despite the fact that David could seem the weaker of the two, it's upon him to find a way to change William's mind. The bait is a secret mission to rescue a frenchman in France territory; the tool a wonderful and fast little yacht which William has to command with a small crew and with David in the fake role of a canadian trader and yacht's owner.

The book starts in a very nice way, with a much waited reunion between William and David, who finally share a bed in a country inn. But the day after they are draw apart, even if not physically, since in the narrow space of the yacht, without possible intimacy, they have to restrain themself. And then David, who never doubted William's love, found out soon before their leave, that William was set out to really severe any communication with David; David still doesn't put in question their love, but maybe the wish of Will to commit himself to find a way to work through the odds to stay together. On the other hand, Will can't see a way for them to be together, even if David suggests a marriage of convenience for Will (don't worry, it's only a suggestion, and there is not even a woman around to accomplish it...).

And then Will has the chance to meet "another" man: again don't worry, there is not a betrayal behind the corner, but still, Will has the chance to understand that what he feels for David is not so strange or forbidden, it's something that he could well have felt for someone else if David was not around. It's not that David turned William, it's Willam's nature. I don't know, but in a way, William's mind finds absolution. In all the books I read on this series, I always found that David was the one who was willing to take more risks for their relationship; it's not that Will is a coward, but sometime he is too cautious.

With this book Lee Rowan introduces as to Etienne, a character that I'd like to see in the future, maybe with his own story.

If you liked Deadly Nightshade, the first book in the Deadly Mystery series, you will love Deadly Wrong. I liked the first book in the series, but it was in some way interrupted: the two main characters, Tom and Stanley, were presented to us, the reader had the chance to feel for them (I, for example, hearted for Tom), but in the end their story was not finished at the end of the book. And in fact, Deadly Wrong begins with Stanley who needs to take some decision in his life.

In the first book Stanley was obviously the main hero, but he didn't shine as he does in this second book. More than half the book is about him and his life change decision: should he remain in the Homicide and working with Tom everyday, when the man clearly stated that nothing could be happen again between them? Tom said his goodbye to the man in a very "personal" way, having his first and only anal sex experience with Stanley, baring himself to Stanley in the most intimate way, and then walking away barely saying goodbye. Stanley can't stay around and his first reaction was to quit his job. But then he receives a temporary leave and a call for help from a long time friend: Libby's brother was accused of manslaughter, but he claims to be innocent. Can Stanley come to Bear Mountain and help them to "straighten" the true? Not that Stanley is familiar with straightening things up, and even less with an homicide case, but it's a good way to leave San Francisco for a bit.

An apparently simple case has its root in the small town way of living, and with the murder of a young boy who has never had a chance in his life to be happy. It's strange, but even if Donnie is already dead when the reader meets him, he is one of the most interesting characters of this second book; I found myself wondering how his life could be if someone cared enough for him to give him a friendly hand. Donnie asked in every possible way help, but no one seemed to hear his call if not Carl, the one man that now his framed with his murder. I was already liking the book, even if I had the idea for it to be very sad, when the book took a suddenly, but well welcomed, turn with Tom's reappearing on the scene: even if Tom's mind said goodbye to Stanley, his body has other idea and it craves Stanley. And so Tom arrives to rescue Stanley and to stake his claim on the man. All right, Tom is straight, but he wants Stanley, and the things are obvious for him: there is no much to say, it's time to act.

Again I like Tom's character, he is "straight" (pun intended): he is probably not a man used to mourn a lot on his mind, he thinks and reacts, he is plain in his behaviour as in his feelings. Stanley on the other hand is a man in love, and he is willing to face and suffer everything to be with the man he loves; when Tom changes his mind, Stanley doesn't hesitate a minute to welcome him again in his life, and it's very sweet reading when he attempts to look into Tom's intentions without letting go that he is doing so.

Again Victor J. Banis wrote a real good book where plot and characters mend in a perfect way.

In a little college small town Logan Shoemaker apparently has a good life, he is the owner of an old Victorian house he turned in a magick shop and lives upstair. The neighbors are nice and he is quite content with his life, if not for the financial trouble he is having: people don't believe no more in magic and his shop is always more empty.

In one of the darkest days of his life, after drinking a full bottle of red wine, Logan cries out for help... and someone listen to him. Hallan lives from the other side of the ancient mirror Logan hangs up in his kitchen; he is an elf, a potion master, and the mirror allow him to see the everyday life of Logan, but he has never had before the chance to talk to him, only if Logan asks for help, only in that event Hallan can step through the mirror in Logan's life. But only by night and without Logan seeing him.

That night Hallan helps Logan making four little bottles of passion oil and also giving to Logan the most wonderful sex of his life (always in the dark and with Logan believing he is having a wet dream). But the morning after Logan finds the four bottles and also a ring Hallan left for him, and so he realizes that his elf dream lover is real.

But in Hallan's world there is a war in act, and Hallan as king's potion master is in deep trouble. And he can't be with Logan, since if Logan sees him he will be forever captive in the elf world, without no more the possibility to step through the mirror.

I like the story, it's really a fairy tale; even if there is sex, and really hot sex, it never ruins the fairy tale atmosphere of the story. Hallan is really tender, so wise and steady, not at all the usual elflike character I'm used to. He is strong but at the same time gentle, he creates magic with his hands, mixing love potions and making sweet love to Logan. Logan is a cute character, I don't understand if he is pretty or not, but I imagine he is, but he is also shy and gentle, the classic man who helps the elderly and shelters stray pets (even if it's the first time I read of a stray rodent...)

The story is more simple of what I was expecting but it was not a bad thing; reading it I was building a lot of possibility in my head, trying to imagine how all the supporting characters in the story will be involved in the final solution; in the end all was simpler than what I was imagining, but I'm not criticizing the author, for me it means that she gave deepness even to the less important characters.

Max is a not so struggling artist who lives as he likes: openly gay he has the reputation to be a good lover but not a constant one, he only does one night stand. So when his sister Jenn comes to live with him and she sets her eyes on Quinton, the CEO of the firm on which Jenn has a big shares, Max recognizes in him a twin soul, only the "straight" version: Quinton is famous in the city to be the most wanted bachelor, but he is never serious with his conquests. Since Jenn is a very nice girl, innocent and sweet, Max will not let Quint treat her like another notch in his belt. He manages to meet Quint in private and he goes all Big Brother with him.

First time Quint sees Max, he immediately realizes that he would prefer to have the handsome man in his bed rather than his sister; and when Max threatens him, Quint reacts as only a business man would do, with a private agreement: he will stay far from Jenn (at least from her bed) if Max will be his boy toy. Quint really doesn't imagine that Max will agree to his proposal, also since he doesn't know that the man is gay. And when Max instead simply says "yes", he isn't expecting for him to take the lead role in the relationship. Quint always played the role of the boss, something he learnt from his father; both Quint and his father were good men, with old fashion idea on what is private life and what is work, your private persona should not interfere with your public imagine, and with "strangers" you have always to play the detached and aloof role of the business man... never letting know to your enemy that you have an heart.

Quint took a bit too seriously his role, and now he actually doesn't have a private life; and since he lost his father, his only relatives, he now has no one with whom he could show his true self; he is captive of his public persona, and neither Max, at first, can see beyond it. But when Quint lets for a moment the mask go, Max finds a different man in bed with him, someone who needs tenderness and assurances. It's quite interesting to read the shifting in role between Max and Quint: no one of them is a perfect leader and no one of them is a perfect follower. I believe that both of them built a shield against the world, Quint becoming the cold business man, Max the careless don juan, but behind that shield, they are both men with deep emotions, sometime also easy to be carry away from them; when they are with someone they trust, or when they believe to be alone, they are also men who doesn't fear to prove their feelings even with tears. But even if they cries a lot, I don't have of them the impression that they are weak, in a way they are like all the artists should be: to pass on emotion they need to feel harder than anyone else.

It's a very romantic love story, with an heavy push on the romantic side; I like as both main characters are completely involved in the relationship from the first moment, and as they prove it both with words than signs; I like as they are weak in front of their feelings but not in front of the world; and I like as they take the responsibility for their mistakes and try to righten them.

Bend in the Road is a two stories anthology, but it's really only a book since the two stories are strictly connected.

In the Lion's Den Aryeh Nachman is the bastard son of a wealthy man who provided for him till his twenty-one year and then left him alone in the world. Truth be told, Aryeh was just alone in the world, having left his home in England at eighteen years old when his unrequited but returned love for his tutor gave him no chance: his tutor was from Poland, and after spending five years with Aryeh and realized that he loved the man, he decided to return back home and married. Since to Aryeh was never denied anything, this refusal didn't set well with the young man, and he spent the following years searching for the love he was denied; from careless rake with his father's money to kept man for wealthy and older women, Aryeh is now without money and a roof and he accepts the offer of a traveling Yiddish theater troupe. Here he meets Danaleh, a very young and very innocent man, but even if innocent, and very much virgin, Danaleh knows that he is not interested in woman, on the contrary he is very much drawn to the handsome Aryeh. Even if Aryeh is not much older than Danaleh, he is very much more experienced and he doesn't want to taint Danaleh with his "filthy" desires. But if he only knew that Danaleh, with his naivete and innocence, is more than eager to be the heroine in Aryeh's dreams, in fact Danaleh has a penchant to dress as a woman, a thing he can only realize when he is on stage, but that he would so like to do also in private, with Aryeh.

In From Stage to Stage is the story of talented musician Yuval Smolenski, the other member of the troupe who has more interest in men than women, but as for Aryeh and Danaleh, it's not simple for him to find a soul mate. He travels with his sister, a grown woman with mental problem who behaves like a child, and Yuval, even if interested, would never marry and leave her alone. And so he is content with the few hush encounters he can snatch in anonymous cities. But being Jewish and gay is becoming more and more dangerous, for a reason or another. Then, while rehearsing for a big marriage during which they will perform, he meets Tsvi, a big man with the face of a monster and the voice of an angel. Also Tsvi is hiding, but more his preferences for men, he is hiding his religious origins: he is a member of the Chassidim, an ultra religious sect of Judaism, and he has some reason why he doesn't want for it to be known. But when he sings, his origins are very much clear, since he sings like he is making love with God, and Yuval can't help to love him as well, despite his external looks.

For complete different reason, both couples don't consider themself worthy of love: Aryeh probably believes to be tainted, Danaleh to be too simple, Yuval consider a problem his religion and Tsvi is running away from his sense of guilty. All of them will find shelter and a new family in the traveling theatre troupe, and around them history will have its course, making the novel quite fascinating and really interesting for the history lovers. Part of this fascination is also due to the very detailed and researched work that the author obviously made: the Jewish culture and way of life of the end of the nineteen century is described in such details that even if you are not familiar with the words and the customs, you will find yourself immersed in them... and if you have some problems, well there is a very helpful glossary at the end of the book!

The common theme of this anthology are men in drags, for different reason and at different level.

About Something by Jet Mykles: Shawn is a cute college guy, maybe even too cute. He is an actor and he has always played in men roles, but now Roscoe, young director and college teacher, wants for him to play a female role. Why on earth he has that idea Shawn doesn't know, all right Shawn is a pretty man, but he is ALL man, he has plenty of ex girlfriend to prove it. Anyway, Roscoe is very good in prospecting to Shawn a big success if he does as he says, and Shawn agrees. On while on stage he dresses as a woman and speaks the words of a woman, his perception of Roscoe is changing: he starts to see the man in a different way than before, he is no more the cool young director who can give to Shawn the chance of his life, he is now a very handsome man that Shawn would like to know better. And so Shawn starts to "bring" home his role, he starts to dress as a woman even outside the theatre and every time is good to tease Roscoe. And Roscoe is easily teased, but he tries to resist, since even if Shawn is not so younger than him for age, he is new to the whole gay life scene, and Roscoe instead knows that he is ready for commitment.

Jet Mykles' story is light and enjoyable, there is not the usual angst of a college affair between a student and a teacher, Roscoe is not so worried to overstep his role, the real big problem for him seems to be that he doesn't want to awaken Shawn's desire for gay sex and then be dumped by the young imp. Shawn is a bit of a teaser, he is set to conquer his teacher and he really doesn't think on the future or on what it will happen if he manages to: he is focused on the moment and on the pleasure he can have; it's quite a typical behavior of a man so young.

Sometimes, Life's a Drag by J.P. Bowie: Patrick is a young singer who audictions for a role in a drag show. The one man show is Kenny, a forty something drag queen who is all you can expect from a drag queen who passed his prime age: bitch and jeloaus, always searching for reassurance that he is still the only real queen. And when Patrick not only unveal to be a lot better singer than him, but also steals the interest of Ian, a police detective Kenny was set out to conquer, the queen becomes a real bitch. There is also a murder to resolve, but it's not so interesting as to read the bickering between Kenny and Patrick. Patrick will be obviously the winner, but I have to say that I really like Kenny: Patrick and Ian are a good couple, they are right together, but who has really the more interesting role is Kenny. And I really like that, in the end, the author will give also to him a piece of cake.

This is probably one of the best short story I read by J.P. Bowie. It's not so romantic as other stories I read by him, but the small world of a show business made more of sweat than glitters, is skillfully rendered; it reminds me one of my favorite movie, Chorus Line, and all the characters, even the minor ones, were so fascinating... I was so waiting to see what would happen between Laurence and Albert.

Women's Weeds by Kimberly Gardner: David is a young director who is searching the right actor for a Olivia / Cesario in Twelfth Night, and when Kieran, the young and very pretty man he met the day before, auctions for the role, David knows that he will be perfect. Problem is that Kieran not only like to dress as a woman on stage, he likes to do that also in his everyday life; Kieran is like that, one day he awakens and he feels a man, the other day he feels like a woman, and he dresses up to his feelings. Kieran really likes David, but David has to accept him like he is, since Kieran can't change.

I like this little story, even if for sure Kieran is a lot more of a character than David. David is a nice background role, he plays well along Kieran, but it's Kieran that holds all the story. Kieran is young but I believe he has already clear who he is and what he wants in life. And he is not all over David in a desperate way: yes, he would like for David to be the one, but I believe that, if something would happen against his story, Kieran would have the strenght to close this chapter of his life and open another one.

All three stories are of very high quality, probably all of them would live without problem as independent story, but put them together, and you have a really nice anthology.

Reading this book I realized that I don't know much about angels and demons, and about the Creation and the Fall of Lucifer. These are five stories about love between angels and demons, and about the power of clean all the mistakes that sometime love has.

Hunter and the Prey: Lev is an Angel. He trains the young Angel to be warriors and to destroy the evil creatures that roam the human world. But he can't destroy one of these creatures, the demon Alael, cause he loves him. And when Alael decides that it's time for them to be together, no one can deny them.

Angels of Blood: Irael is a fallen angel who proclaims himself god of a tortured world. The Order of Chaos is not happy with the angel's behaviour and want to destroy him. But Adon, one of the Angel of Creation, has his own plans on Irael, and he will do as he wants and the winner takes all.

Unholy Need: Nichael is an angel who has to hunt and kill a powerful mage, but during his mission he stumbles upon Nias, a young demon. It seems that Nias displeases Lucifer and he was sent in a mission where he clearly can't survive, and Nichael has to help the young demon, cause now he can't let him go.

Order of the Highest: Talah is a demon spy, former lover of Sepha, a powerful ancient demon, he has to lure one of the Highest, a powerful group of angel warrior. But when he meets Aridas, he knows to have found the only thing missing in his life. But can he be free from the binding he has with Sepha?

The True Fall of Lucifer: After years and years of loneliness, Lucifer has to admit that he misses his former lover, Michael. And since also Michael wants Lucifer back, what prevent the fallen angel to reunite with his true love?

All the stories are pretty short, more or less 30 pages each, but are full of details and reading it you have a feeling of light and shadow, of deep black and flash of blinding colour. There are also many hints of bondage and submission, of pain that enriches the love making.

All the book is setting in a fantasy world, so it's not strange to see all these angels and demons around, they are not some otherworldly creatures in a normal world, they are normal creatures in a mythical world.

This is a classical coming of age story with a bit less angst than usual. I'm really fond of teens story, I always say that in them I find an innocence and a sweetness that it's hard to find in a normal contemporary story. Teenagers are so eager for love, and the love so hard that it's impossible to not heart for them; problem is that I'm maybe a bit too realistic, and I always wonder if a story that starts when the boys are underage have really a chance to last.

This is the main reason why I liked this book, since it spans almost two years in the life of Wes and Toren, from when they are still in highschool till when they approach their adult life, with college and work and stuff like that.

Toren is a cute nerd little student; he is obviously gay, he has written it all over his face but he is so worried to come out: his parents got divorced since his father fell for a man when Toren was 12 yeard old, and since then he lives with his mother; he loves so much his mom that he fears to hurt her with the truth and so he represses his feelings. But then Wesley enters his life and he can't help to fall hard and love is impossible to hide. Plus Wes has not a supporting family and Toren becomes not only his lover but also all the family he has.

Probably Wes and Toren have to grew too soon and too fast, but as I said this is not an angst story: even if they went through some not nice events, mostly their story is made of tenderness and cuteness; there is clearly a yaoi imprint in it, but not so much as other western yaoi novel I read. Wes is clearly the top in the relationship, he assumes the role of the caretaker, the man of the family, the one who goes to work and comes back home to his little "wife". But he is not an authoritative man, he is not an absolute top, he is only a real good boy; and it's strange since in highschool he had the fame to be a bad boy, the one born in the wrong side of the city. But for most of it was only a role he played as reaction to what he was living at home, with parents that never once supported him, even before they knew he was gay.

Toren instead is the classical bottom, all blushing and tears, but he is not weak, he only needs to find a bit of courage to come out, and not only in a sexual way. But don't forget that Toren is 17 years old when the story starts, he is still mostly a boy and he has plenty of time to grew; I like that he is not forced to take steps he is not ready to do only since around him people don't understand. And I think that Wes, with his protective attitude, somehow helped Toren to walk at his own pace.

There is a lot of sex, and there is clearly the fascination of a woman author for two young boys in love, another legacy from the yaoi influence; not only that, there are also some female characters in the book that probably represent the author herself (actually the female are the strongest characters in the book). But the sex is also tender, as all the book, and so it's very nice to read it.

This is a book I was waiting to read since it's quite far from my culture: my only experience of Mormons is about remembering some good looking young boys in white shirt and black tie who always rode a bike and tried to stop people in the center of my town. They never tried to stop me, so I don't know what they wanted to say, but I always thought that it should be not simple for them to be so far from home, but maybe also like an adventure: how many young American guys have the change to visit Italy without their parents tagging alone? But truth be told they never seemed to profit of their freedom.

And so when I read that the main character in this book is a Mormon I was very curious, also since I recently saw Latter Days and I had the chance to be a little more aware of how is Mormons thought on homosexuality. And for real it's not a simple life for Joe, he is not only Mormon and gay, he really believes in his religion; he saw the better side of it, the one that says to treat your neighbor as yourself, he also likes the way of life in a small town where everyone knows who you are, who are your parents and your grandparents before then. Joe is arrived to the conclusion that God should love him despite him being gay since he found out that he loves guys in a total natural way, without trauma or big revelation, and so Joe is sure that he is born like that and there is nothing he can do to avoid it.

But to live in peace in his small town, Joe chose to flying down as much as possible, and when the urges are unbearable, he goes far from home. And being the only gay man in town helps also to avoid temptation. But now temptation is there in the pretty body and lively with of Kabe, a lost soul some relatives decide to welcome after he was in prison for drugs (detention not selling). Kabe not only is young and very much cute, he is only obviously gay, at least for Joe that is able to read the signals. And when a murder case allows them to be nearer than safe, the sparks fly and the fire is unstoppable.

I like the story since, even if the matter is delicate, the result is not too much angst, and after all, our heroes don't suffer too much. As Joe is arrived to accept his homosexuality inside his religion, he will arrive also to accept that he found love, and he can't avoid it as much as he couldn't avoid to be gay. Joe is this type of strong man, silent but lethal, but safe as a rock in a wild river; he is the perfect partner to give something steady to Kabe, that is not a bad guy, but maybe a bit too much free and young. Kabe is not a bad character, Joe said he is trouble, and probably he is right: Kabe is trouble since he is not the boy Joe can't hide in the shadow to allow him to continue with his old life; Kabe is a too big thing and he wants and needs all the reassurance from Joe that he will be the real thing for him.

As I said there is a murder case in the background, but it's not so important in the story, the main scene is taken by Joe and Kabe and by their developing relationship. I should say that I prefer things like that, since I prefer to read about them since as I said, I was more curious to know how the author would have dealt with the religion issue, and I believe he chose a nice and realistic way to do that.

Sammi is a young sex slave. Abused child at 10 years when he was in a foster house, he became an hustler at 16 and at 20 he was picked up by an older man, Donovan. At first Sammi thought that Donovan wanted him for his own pleasure, but soon he was used as a whore and also taken in captivity. Now Donovan plans to sell him to the highest bidder, and Sammi can't have it. So he runs aways, and after some nights where he trades sex for a shelter, he meets Mitchell.

Mitchell is a simple man with a simple life, an ordinary work, a small but neat apartment. Sammi turns all it over. Since the first time both Sammi than Mitchell know that what they shares is more than a one night stand; Sammi has some psichic powers, he can read the emotions of people, and the voice of Mitchell in his head is strongest than all the other voices... Mitchell is the soul mate he is searching.

But life is not simple if you are a valueable good for a slave trader. Donovan has no intention to let him free, and he starts ruining Mitchell's life to convince Sammi to cooperate. And Sammi, even if deeply in love with Mitchell, will do anything it takes to not damage him any more.

The story is pretty good, the paranormal element not very strong, I would not define this romance as paranormal, it's more an angst romance, the sad past of Sammi is a stronger element than his psichic power. Even if the story is not too short, more than 160 pages, I still feel like all the event were happening in a too fast way: Sammi and Mitchell encounter is good and also their suddenly passion which continues for a bit, so much that they seems always horny, but how Sammi reveals his powers, and how Mitchell accepts them, it's all too fast. After all Mitchell's life is turned upset down from Sammi, and he seems too passive... maybe love is blinded him. And also the resolution of Sammi's problem... all too soon and all too simple, even if, usually I'm not one for prolong the ending too much.

I like the characters, even if we have the chance to know better Sammi and not so much Mitchell. Also Mitchell has a past, also a late lover he still misses sometime, and he also seems to have a supporting and loving family, but in all the story we have only little bit of info on him and not a full profile. About Sammi we know something more, and I found really interesting Sammi's visit to a free clinic and his "coldly" approach to his sex life seen from a medical point of view. It could sound strange, but I probably found it the best scene in the book.

In the end, easy reading, I finished the book in few time, but I see some lost opportunities in it and I'd like if the author considers to write more on these characters.

Eye Spy (Eye Spy 1) by Drew Zachary

DB is a private investigator of not much success. But he has something no other PI could have: his partner is a ghost, Jesse.

They share a pretty simple and quite life: resolve cases not so complicated, play chess and discuss a lot. They have never spoken of the private life of DB, cause Jesse has no private life, obviously, and seems neither DB.

But when DB discovers that Jesse is gay, like him, their relationship changes a bit: sex with a ghost seems a little weird and complicated, but DB can't deny the sudden passion he feels for Jesse. And Jesse wants badly to feels again a physical passion and to have the chance to share it with something else.

In the end the case on which DB and Jesse are investigating slip in second side and the struggle of Jesse to understand how he can have sex with DB plays the main role. Jesse is the engine of the story, DB is almost the let-the-things-flows type of characters. It is also a tender story and not creepy at all; maybe you will be a little sad for the two but you will have an open happy end to image how a ghost and a man can build a relationship together.

With My Little Eye (Eye Spy 2) by Drew Zachary

Jesse and DB from Eye Spy have to solve two cases: a professional ones, the murder of a 8 years old girl, and a professional ones, the fact that they can't have sex together, since being Jesse a ghost, he has a too "ethereal" physic, and everytime they try to touch, DB passes through Jesse like Jesse does with a wall.

The book is a light comedy: the awful plot, the murder of the little girl, plays only a secondary level role, and almost all the book is voted to Jesse and DB's relationship. The two are like two male cats in the same house, both of them want to dominate and to have the last word. But they are also in love and maybe Jesse arrived to this conclusion before DB, and so now he is the most eager to find a solution.

DB is the classical PI: detached and negative, but also with a big heart well hidden behind his rude behavior. He is always ready to blame Jesse for bringing him "ghost" clients, since they are not paying customer, but then he can't never deny an help.

But as I said, is not the suspence part of the book that characterized the plot: it's more the erotic exchanges between Jesse and DB, and since this is not at all a "normal" relationship, all the erotic scenes have always a funny side, a creepy funny side.

Something Green (Eye Spy 3) by Drew Zachary

DB and his ghost lover Jesse are coming back with another story where mystery mixes with humor. In comparison to the previous book, Something Green is a little more funny and light: DB and Jesse have finally found a way to be together also in a physical way. They are all in all a couple, and like a real couple, Jesse is starting to get jealous, since he is the "invisible" part of the relationship and he can't stake his claim on DB in a very evident way. Even if the author really never described DB or Jesse in a physical way, I believe that DB is a cute man, and now he has also an admirer, a cop that started to wonder why DB is always in time on the scene of a crime, and one that is willing to believe that is not only lucky or something illegal.

Joe, the cop, has a sad story on his past, that almost makes the reader wants for him to be happy, but in no way he can be between DB and Jesse. But despite this, Jess has to face the fact that he is incorporeal, and that he can't do things with his lover like going out for dinner or chatting in public; things that Joe can do. What I like is that the jealousy stunt is all on Jesse's side, DB never once lets his interest on Joe to become something more than friendship; even if in love with a ghost with whom he is having sex, DB is really a quite normal guy, with simple taste and desires: he accepted the fact that his soul mate is a ghost and now he is passing on, no more doubting of the decision he took; he is enjoying the moment and he doesn't question the future.

As I said the book is more funny, without any angst nor in the mystery case or in the relationship between DB and Jesse, and it's also more "physical", since DB and Jesse are having regular sex, and once they went on the weird thing of having sex with a ghost in the previous book, in this one they are only happy and content with what they have and they profit plenty of the chance. So the sex is only happy, and there is no regrets of "if" pending between them.

All right if people was wondering why I spent the last two days without posting a review, you have Sean Kennedy to blame! He wrote a 376 pages long book, and one that it's quite impossible to read skipping here and there, since it's all story, very few sex and all the elements I like in what I calls "show business" story, means that the heroes are under the spotlight of public opinion and have to deal not only with the ordinary trouble of a love, but also with the expectations of family, friends and fans.

The story reminds me a bit of a movie I saw recently, "Outing Riley", where the main character is not exactly the flamboyant gay character. For starter, Simon spent the first pages of the book explaining us his philosophy on Australian football and the life important choice of the team of your life, much more important of your partner of life, you can change a partner, but you can't change your team; you can cheat on your partner, but you can't absolutely cheat on your team. Anyway at the beginning of the book Simon is single and happily involved with his team, that in this moment is not on the winning side (and it wasn't since a bit), but Simon is still faithful. And since his father is from another team, and his brother from another one, and his best friend from another one, when Simon is not defending the honor of his team, he is willing to defend the honor of another team player, if it's not against his own team. And so at a party he is speaking aloud in support of Declan Tyler, not knowing that the man is behind his shoulder listening to all.

Unbelievably, Declan is gay, even if in the closet, and is immediately attracted by Simon, a man that sometime talk before thinking, but that, all in all, has a big heart. And Declan is the perfect hero: always gentle and caring, always understanding of Simon's needs. He is so perfect that Simon, and the reader with him, has to forgive him to be in the closet and to involve Simon in this farce. Truth be told, even if Simon is out, he is not the classic out and proud man who wants to be an example for the youngers; Simon is willing to give to their story a try, and if not for people around, the thing will be quite good.

But Simon's friends are worried for him, and in Roger, Simon's best friend, I can almost see a bit of jealousy, not in a sexual way, but since he is loosing the exclusivity he had on Simon's time. And then there is obviously the big problem of being discreet, and this means that, apart from his best friend Roger and his wife Fran, Simon has no one to talk about Declan and his issue with this new relationship. Not that there are many of it: it's more Simon that worries, Declan has never asked to Simon to be different from what he normally is. All in all Declan comes out like a very good man, one that Simon should be careful to not let go.

The book is above all a light one, almost funny sometime. Simon is really an unwilling comic character, a burst of energy always in motion and always causing trouble... he is not exactly the man to choose if you want to be discreet. But Declan is obviously in love and ready to forgive, and forget, a lot of thing. Simon is not ever a man who would be able to approach in the right way a relationship with Declan, since Simon is not a man who is able to read between the lines, and Declan is not a man to speak aloud his mind; and so if not for the help of Fran, probably Simon and Declan would have a lot of more trouble to be together.

The book is really romantic, with a lot of scenes that will melt the heart of the most romantic reader, the classical big Hollywood comedy scenes, flowers and chocolate type (even if here is more beer and steak, but well, Simon is not, as I said, your typical gay romance character). Strange is that, even if there is no explicit sex, there are enough innuendo and let imagine scenes, that I can say that I had my more than satisfactory quota of sex, even if it's not described in full details.

I'm true, I approached this book a bit wary, since I couldn't believe possible to find true romance in a prison story setting. Don't get me wrong, I like prison story, one of my favorite movie is "The Shawshank Redemption" (and no, I was not imagining a slash story between Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman!), but I always found that they are quite anst stories, and usually one of the heroes, if not both, goes through some very nasty moments, that yes, serve him to be stronger, but well, I can't help to feel for him.

And so thinking to Daniel, young Brazilian student that is unfairly imprisened after a student protest, I was pretty sure that there weren't good perspective for him. But his fair looks and yes, probably also his well-bring behavior and innocence, arise the protective feelings in Mephisto, a drug dealer who behaves in prison like a maniac perfectionist: everything in his shank has to be in order and cleaned, and you have to behave according to the prison rules, official and unofficial, to survive. He welcomes Daniel in his shack as he would with an exotic bird, Paradise Bird: he nurturers and provides to him like Daniel is a fragile beautiful bird that will not survive in the dark and cold prison otherwise. Daniel is kept away from all the nasty things, and he is allowed to "sing" only for Mephisto's pleasure, and for a strict circle of friends.

Don't get me wrong, Mephisto is not a bad guy, he only wants to protect Daniel's innocence, and in a way, he wants for him to not loose that innocence since when Daniel will be out of prison (and Mephisto is sure that this will be happen), he has to look back to this experience as a passing nightmare, something he can't put behind his shoulder. Mephisto himself will have to be only a memory, and so at first, Mephisto is gentle and caring, but almost detached, he wants for Daniel to feel safe with him, but not to be involved in an emotional level.

And so Daniel's experience inside the prison has almost an easy feeling, at least for him. Daniel is frightened and sad, but truth be told, he didn't go through real "big" trouble, and Mephisto is always beside him. In this way the love relationship that blossoms between them seems easy and natural, and probably a consequence of the situation, but not for that less sweet or romantic. Daniel falls in hell, but a fallen angel soothes Daniel's fall and allows him to not loose his wings so he can fly back to paradise.

Corey and Ian are the 2ICE a pop duo loved by the fans, in particular female fans. Both very young, barely 20 years old, Corey and Ian react in different way to the sudden success: Corey loses himself in meaningless sex every night with a different female partner, and Ian loses himself in the alcohol. Both aren't finding in their escape way what they are searching.

Ian is in love with Corey, and he can't bear to see the man brings a different woman every night in his bed. Corey instead is searching to prove to the world that he is real, that he is not only an empty body on the scene; he believes that, giving a piece of him every night to a different person, he will at the end affirm that he is real, that he is a man and not a song.

But one night Corey realizes that he is tired to not knowing who is in bed with him, and when he turns around to find an help, Ian is there for him. Corey suddenly understands that the only real thing in his life in this moment is his friendship with Ian, a friendship that could be love. And since Corey associates love with sex, he now wants to move his relationship with Ian to the next level, to a sexual level. But Ian isn't willing to be one more body in Corey's bed, he wants to be the one and the only and he asks time to Corey.

Both Corey than Ian are very tender, and it's right for them to be so, since they are really young, not more teens but not yet men. Ian asks time like a old fashioned virgin maid, in a way he believes that giving up to Corey, allowing him to have his body, he would be consider "easy"; he wants to give to Corey his body along with his soul, he wants for Corey to really know him before allowing the man an entry to the altar of his body. On the other hand Corey is not the rakish man that usually seduces the virgin; Corey is as young as Ian, as in need of love as the other man. Corey pouts and whines, and he always obtains what he wants; but when Ian is not willing to let Corey in as soon as Corey asks, Corey didn't react with hurt, instead he becomes even more sweet and tender: not having immediately what he wants, makes Corey think and in a way, he becomes an adult even before Ian.

This is a very nice book, I always like when the characters are so young. Neither of them is a really dominant character, neither of the is a really fully grown man; it's tender to think that they will grow together and that they will be happy, since the bad world outside can't touch them.

I have a kink (only one?!?): I like stories where the two partners have different height... is there a name for this type of kink? Anyway, when I read the blurb of this story I knew that I would like it: one of the main character is 7 feet and 6 inches tall!

Dave is a shy geek young guy. 24 years old, he grew faster than the other guys, and I don't mean in physical way. He lost his parents when still a child and was raised in various foster homes; he couldn't wait the day when he turned 18 years old and went to College, since in that way he would be independent. The loneliness he brought from the foster house, follows him in his adult life, and now Dave is an independent professional web designer, with no one to refer to. But this also means that he seldom has the chance to meet someone, and his social life is a mess. Hating to draw attention everytime he steps out of home, he prefers to stay hidden; if he wants sex, he has no problem, he can simple enter a club and cruise a man to take to a backroom... when speaking of sex, no one complains about his measures. But now Dave wants something more, he wants a relationship. And this is when he meets again Micah, one of the guys who shared with him a foster home for some months, and the protagonist of a lot of his juvenile wet dreams.

Micah was and still is a good guy, the boy next door type, the bachelor whose house is always open to friends. But he is also a divorced man with still a ring on his hand, maybe memento of a lost love? Dave can't avoid to frequent the man, and he wants to frequent him, even if is a sweet ache having him around, but in no way he can let slip what he really feels for his friend.

Dave is a blind man, he can't see in him all the good quality he has, and so, in a way, he presents himself badly to the other people. But he is really young, only 24 years old, and so it's not too late to find someone who helps him to come out from his lair. And Micah, with his generosity and positive attitude is the right man.

A medium long story, less than 80 pages, without much twist and turn; it's really only a story of guy meets guy, guy falls in love for guy, guy "marries" guy (in the figurative meaning, not literally). They even have a dog per one, and when there is a dog around, especially a puppy, the story is for sure a sweet romance.

G.A. Hauser comes back to the show business world that apparently she likes so much (For Love and Money, The Kiss, Love You Loveday...). The starting point is quite similar to The Kiss, Keith, a struggling actor (and not a model like in The Kiss), has the offer of his life, an offer that he can't refuse since it's probably the last chance he has; problem is that he has to play the role of a gay in a primetime cable drama, and he is not gay... or at least he thinks so. There are some hints that the reader can pick up if he wants, like the fact that his girlfriend is esthetically more like a man than a woman, or that he has an instantly attraction for his partner on the scene. Carl, the partner, is a big gay with a good heart; even if older than Keith, and with a successful role in the show business world, Carl is somewhat more innocent than Keith. He is so friendly and open, like Keith he has never had a gay experience in the past, but truth be told he is not against the idea.

The problem of them not being gay is soon overcome and the scenes they play on the stage are pretty hot, so hot that both of them start to wonder how it can be if it wasn't an act. Also Keith having a girlfriend is a soon overcome problem, since she eliminates herself from the picture repeatedly refusing Keith and in this way pushing the man toward Carl. Maybe is not so nice that Keith wanted to have sex with her only to prove his masculinity, but she didn't know it, for her is a mix of tiredness due to work and maybe also a bit of jealousy that Keith manages to have an important role while she is still waitering tables.

Of the two characters, the one that comes out (no pun intended) is Keith, he is the one who apparently takes more risk and loses more; he also has a not so nice encounter with his family that let him with the quite clear impression that he will not have their support if he decides to pursue his relationship with Carl. And it's strange, since who has a career to risk is Carl; but Carl seems to worry more for his private life, than of the public opinion: as I said before, Carl is a guy with a big heart, and also in this case, he lets his heart lead him more than his brain.

Acting Naughty is a nice tale, with the usual two main heroes that are a trademark of this authors, very pretty men who maybe are a little too vain (they always seem to love themself as much as they love the partner, and the look is always a great component of said love), but also men that are easy to emotion and that more often than not can fall in tear if that emotion is too strong.

Some recurring characters from Hauser's previous books, Adam and Jack, adds this one to the Los Angeles' saga of this author.

All right, this book is quite a challenge for various reasons, and so you are warned, don't continue to read if you don't like spoilers, since I probably am not able to explain all this book left to me without using a bit of them.

First of all please tell me where is the small town USA where the two main characters live; it's a wonderful place, where everyone knows everyone else, where a widow mother brings up not only her two sons, but also another runaway boy. A place where that same mother doesn't freak out when her teenager daughter gets pregnant and she doesn't ever know who is the father, and that becomes her son's best friend when he comes out. A place where a teenager crush could last 15 and more years and could, at last, become the real thing.

Cameron is a photographer and he has a pretty good life, a nice independent house, a loving family and good friends. He is just out an abusive relationship, but he was good enough to realize that it was not good for him and got free; now yes, he has some self-esteem issues, but nothing serious. And so when he has the chance to meet again Jeremy, his teenager crush, he is open and ready to accept him in his life. On the other side Jeremy is finally happy that things happen at the right moment: also him his bringing a torch for Cameron since their teenager years, but for a reason or the other he has never made a move. Now both of them are free and willing, and for Jeremy is pretty easy to convince Cameron to give him a chance: flowers, restaurant and a good night of sex and Cameron is totally convinced. And here is the first moment when I was a bit perplexed on Cameron: for a man who is just out of an abusive relationship, he is quite "friendly", but then, the reader knows that Jeremy is Cameron's first and real love, and so maybe it's better for us not to wait to much for seeing them happy together.

I was almost drowning in sugar, with a perfect picture of family happiness, when a stalker from Cameron's past decides that instead he is not at all happy that Cameron found his true love. And so reader please enter Patrick, Cameron's best friend and the runaway boy that Cameron's mother welcomed in her family. Patrick was the first person that Cameron informed of his blossoming relationship with Jeremy, and he did so calling Patrick at 2 in the night while the man was in bed with another man. All right they are pretty close so at the moment the reader, me, didn't find strange that Patrick was not angry, and then he had the chance to have another round of sex with the man in his bed, that almost made me thing that Patrick and Keith were another couple in the story. But no, Patrick disappeared only to enter again when Cameron is threatened: he is right there for him, he encourages him, and when something very nasty happen, he comforts him while Jeremy is temporarily not available... wait a moment... is Patrick bringing Cameron to bed? Oh no, no, no... ah, phew, no, they are only lying in bed, one under the cover and one on it. For a moment I fear that... NO! now Jeremy is back and they are having a threesome?!? Oh well, Cameron is willing, Jeremy is willing, Patrick is willing (Patrick is a slut, he is always willing!), all right I can accept it... But wait: Cameron went out and he is supposedly in danger, and Jeremy is having sex with Patrick?!? All right, all right, I know that Cameron knows it, and that it is only a way to let it go fear and tension, but still, it's really hard to accept for me.

Joke apart, what I want to say is that I'm not totally convinced that the "sex with all" turn the book took was all of my liking, but this is something that arrives from my gut. Otherwise, the book is quite full of both funny than interesting characters, not only Cameron, Jeremy and Patrick "the slut" (sorry I have to say it, but don't get me wrong, I like Patrick), have their development, but also all the other characters around, from Diane, Cameron's mother, to his niece Emily, to friends Ben and Kennedy, all of them, even till the less important like Jeremy's employees or Patrick's colleagues. And don't forget that I said that I like the "sugary" atmosphere of this small town USA, it's a good place where to live, so also the setting is nice. I'm not disappointed by this book, you can't always read the same story, and probably if Jeremy and Cameron met, made love, and walked toward the sunset in perfect harmony, this would be only another sappy story. In this way, it's different, and maybe better... but still, if I was a man and I had a boyfriend, I would take him far from that slut of Patrick ;-)

This is another of those little books from an English LGBT publisher, Wayward Books, that between 2000 and 2006 published an handful of very worthy books and then stopped... I'm still hoping that this is a temporary stop, since all the books I read so far are really interesting, all of them with this subtle English humor that would have made worth to be read the book even if it wasn't a gay romance, but the fact that there is also the romance makes them really, really nice.

Ryan is a former police officer who took a leave of absence to go back to his University study; now fresh with his shining degree, but no more an innocent man, he has to decide what to do with his life. Ashton arrives to help him take the a different path: he is working for a private investigation firm and he needs a new partner; since he likes Ryan (and no, at first not in "that" way), he puts a good word with his boss and Ryan has a new career in front of him. Ashton is also ready to help him with his private life, always finding not one, but two willing girls at time to spend a good time together. Of the two man, Ashton is the more easygoing, the one who apparently thinks less and acts more, but Ashton has some best kept secret in his past, secrets that he hasn't revealed to Ryan neither after they are partner for five years. Even if Ryan seems the mind of their duo, he is actually a simple soul, and for him the things are always clear, and what he thinks, he does and says, he has no secret for no one, even less for Ashton, who he is starting to consider not only his partner but also his family.

During a drunken night, Ryan and Ashton end in bed together; the morning after both of them feigned a sudden and useful amnesia, but as I said before, Ryan is no a man to keep secrets, and in few time he realizes that this evolution in his relationship with Ashton was the only possible, and that he wants to go further that path. If the alcohol helped them once, maybe it will do also a second time, and Ryan sets things to get again Ashton drunk and willing. But when the things between them seem to get better, Ashton's past make its appearance: Ashton is not a simple man, a commoner, he is the nephew of a Duke, and now his grace wants that Ashton comes back home to help him with a delicate matter. Obviously Ryan, as Ashton's partner, will tag along, but this new side of Ashton adds trouble to trouble: not it's not more only a question of wrong gender, but also of different birth right.

All the book is mostly focused on Ryan and Ashton's relationship, from the beginning friendship to the ending love; I really like as the author deat with both Ryan and Ashton's reaction to this evolving situation: Ryan is almost resigned, he realizes that he likes, and maybe loves Ashton, he understands that he likes what Ashton did to him, and that, even if he never played along that inclination, he was not against the idea to be with a man; and so when the unthinkable happens with Ashton, after the first awkward morning when he first thinks to deny it, he realizes that it's not the end of the world, and then instead it's probably only the logical consequences to their special relationship. On the other hand Ashton has again the easy going attitude that he has with almost everything: he likes it, it is something that makes both of the happy and no one displeased, and so why not? There is no recriminations, no regrets between them; no deny what they are feeling, only the necessary time to be comfortable with it. No angst and no rage, they pass without a break from friends to loves in a very easy way. And the lovemaking between them is always considerate and tender, very, very enjoyable.

The second part of the book is also a nice full immersion in a big and old fashioned all aristocratic English family, complete of a little mystery that lead our heroes to investigate between the walls of an old abbey turned big country estate; a really nice set that reminds me a classical and old fashioned (and English!) sleuthing novel.

All right, I admit that I bought this novel more for the author than for the story... but have you read Ben Patrick Johnson's personal story? How similar is to the blurb of the book? So you can imagine how curious I was to read how the main character of this novel behaves since in a way it would be like spying on Johnson's life. But all in all, I believe that Johnson's output in life is better than Freddie's, the hero of this novel.

It's an unusual novel for me to read, since more than a love story is a life story, the adventures of gay Freddie in the glittering and fake world of Hollywood. Freddie is an openly gay radio DJ who lives in West Hollywood with his hunk jamaican boyfriend. Perfect, isn't it? Well, not exactly... Freddie's work is not so exciting and his relationship with Xavier is slowly wearing down. And so when he is talent scouted on the street and in two days offered with the chance to be the host in a new television show, he jumps at the possibility. Freddie, now renamed Daniel, is groomed and taught to be the perfect anchorman, all people around him praising him for being fresh, new and green! Posh hotels, limousines, all around him is glittering and friendly. But Freddie makes a big mistake: he doesn't hide his boyfriend, he brings him to official events... no, no, no dear Freddie, you can be gay at Hollywood, but you should be asexual, it's not good for families to have the proof that you actually have sex with men!

Probably if his relationship with Xavier was happier, Freddie would fight for it, and instead he decides to play along what the network requires, and he slowly is pushed behind the scene, from the front line to the Z position, despite his good works and his clearly predisposition to be on video.

Freddie is a strange character, I don't know if I like him so much; in a way he is not a fighter, and he is also a cheater... well, this last I don't know, it depends on his relationship with Xavier, I don't know what are their agreement, and well, he plays around since Xavier is behaving bad, but still... Lucky for Freddie, he meets a good guy, Charlie, who maybe, gives him the right reason to fight back, even if, maybe, he takes his decision at the very last. Probably I'm a bit too harsh with Freddie, I have in mind this "hero" image, and instead Freddie is probably only a man facing something bigger than him; sometime I almost feel tenderness for him, I almost want to comfort and saying that all will be right. Truth is that he didn't meet so many nice figure, and some of them are disguising so well that you almost mistake them for the bad guy... and what you think a good guy is fake like sometime Hollywood is.

Anyway, the book is a good mix of real life with some nice add of romance; I wouldn't mind for the sex scene to be a bit hotter, but still, they are nice, even if all behind closed doors.

I bought this book months ago, but I always delayed to read it since I had the idea that it was sad and difficult, and if I have to spend my mind in a book, at least I want in the end to be happy. But I was wrong... Oh yes, the book is difficult, almost tragic in some part, but it's not sad, and I'm very happy to have read it and I will recommend it to everyone who wants to end a book with a tender smile on his face. Mind you, the book has not a pink glasses perspective on the world, but it still has hope in it.

Noah is a really good character, but he is not the only protagonist of this book: he shares the role with the other young boy J.D., but also with his mother Virginia, and in a way, also with Donna and Tom, J.D.'s parents. And so I would like to start my post speaking of Virginia: she is the classical strong woman who built a shield around her to not face a dramatic and long buried secret in her past. She managed to find a piece of serenity with her husband, probably a more simple and quite man than her, even less clever, but able to give her the stability she needed. Noah had never seen his parents in intimate behavior, but he felt the positive energy between them, he knew that his family was an haven from the world, a place where he could grow and be the man he wanted to be without fear of rejection. But that haven was destroyed when his father suddenly passed away, and the other plate who balanced his mother disappears.

Now Virginia drags Noah to live in a small town, but it's not the cultural shock who Noah would expect. In a way, the small town way of life replace that safe haven, and the disorientation Noah would probably had in the city, is avoided with this moving in an old Victorian house that needs a lot of work to be inhabitable and in this way distracts Noah from his own problems. And another distraction arrives from J.D., the new neighbor a year young than Noah. It's strange, Noah is way too clever than J.D., and he is also older, but when J.D. enters the scene, he always takes the role of the leader, the one who always seems to be more aware and adult. Even with his parents J.D. has a way too adult behavior for his own age, he is comprehensive and respectful, even if they have obviously a lot of problem and if J.D. will continue to live with them will end in a very bad way.

This is obviously a coming of age story, both of Noah and J.D., but in a way also of both their mothers, who need to make pacts with their past to not ruin the future of their son. But it's also a love story between Noah and J.D., and even if dealt with tenderness and the right dose of eroticism for a young adult book, it's nevertheless a very sweet and satisfying love story. It evolves in a way that maybe makes Noah and J.D. face some decisions before time, but it's right, since also in their personal life they are facing events that no one at that age should face: and since the world asks them to be adult, it's right that also in their sexual life they are adult.