Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

This novel was submitted to the Rainbow Awards in the Gay Erotic Romance category, and while I completely agree there is a component of eroticism that is well played in the plot, my first impression upon ending the book was that this is more a mainstream novel, and that it could have competed even in the Contemporary General Fiction.

Where There’s Smoke is a political romance, setting is the year before the California governor election, and of course the hidden scandal is that the candidate is gay and in the closet. The common and used plot of having Anthony Hunter, starry eyed campaign manager with an ethic code and strict principle, falling in love with candidate Jesse Cameron and convincing him he can come out of the closet, winning the elections and they can walk hand in hand towards the horizon, is soon destroyed by clever Witt. She makes Hunter older and wiser than Cameron, sure with principles, but in any case his job is to win the campaign; when he finds out that Cameron’s marriage is a fluke, and that his candidate is gay, Hunter is more worried of a possible impeachment, than of misleading the electors. And moreover, the same Hunter is more or less in the closet, not living openly his being gay, not actually denying it but still… so when he discovers that his attraction to the younger Cameron is mutual, Hunter doesn’t worry much that Cameron is married, that his wife is fighting with an eating disorder, and that, above all, if the media find out, the campaign is over.

I liked the interaction between Jesse and his wife Simone; the author didn’t underplay the effect it can have on a wife to find out her husband is gay. Simone is not homophobic, and for that reason she doesn’t hate Jesse, but at the same time it’s not easy for her to admit their marriage is at the end. Maybe if Jesse was destined to remain single, unhappy like her in their fake marriage, she would be more at ease. Simone unfortunately has other issues other than their marriage, and all of them together are destroying her mental stability. She is absolutely a positive character, only that she is fragile. In a way I like her better than Jesse and Anthony.

That is probably the reason why I think this novel was good, that nor Jesse or Anthony were flawless romance heroes, but more realistic men involved in politics, that, as we all know, is far from being the place where to find idealistic heroes.

Amazon: Where There's Smoke
Amazon Kindle: Where There's Smoke
Paperback: 428 pages
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC (February 20, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623003016
ISBN-13: 978-1623003012



Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

From an atheist point of view, I’m always surprised to see how much more atheist people seem to follow the original concept of the Christian teachings than many of the current churches. I still remember the priest who was teaching in my midterm school, how he was glad someone was listening to his lessons (religion was still a mandatory matter in school till 10/15 years ago); the ordinary kids were so bored because they had to hear the same story also afterschool, while for me everything was new and moreover I was listening it from an external point of view and so more critical.

That was the feeling I had about the two main characters in this novel, Darren the minister and Seth the tattoo artist; truth be told, Seth is an atheist since he was kicked out from his ultra-conservative and Christian family, who apparently didn’t remember that Jesus Christ has never kicked out people (well, he did for those who were using the sacred place as a market but that is another story…), but exactly the opposite. And it’s not the hateful love the sinner but hate the sin, it’s really an unconditionally love. This is what Darren is trying to convey, but this is also what Seth is struggling to accept.

It’s really difficult for me to believe there are places where a minister can be gay, and where he has a church and a place where he can do good things, but luckily, it’s not the first time I read of true stories like this, so while reading about Darren, I was imagining him like a real person, and hoping someone as good as him was out there.

The story between Darren and Seth is hot too, lot of sex, and strange as it sounds, Darren wasn’t questioning the fact he was having a not-committed relationship. In a very simple answer he gave to Seth, he explained that, minister can marry and have kids, he cannot marry and so… well, he has to do in some other way.

I’m reading this series in bit and pieces, so I don’t have the full picture, but I’m starting to like this Tucker Springs setting, with its gay neighborhood and college town feeling.

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/covet-thy-neighbor-tucker-springs-novel

Amazon: Covet Thy Neighbor (Tucker Springs) (Volume 4)
Amazon Kindle: Covet Thy Neighbor (Tucker Springs) (Volume 4)
Paperback: 154 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (March 21, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626490015
ISBN-13: 978-1626490017

Series: Tucker Springs
1) Where Nerves End by L.A. Witt
2) Second Hand by Marie Sexton & Heidi Cullinan
3) Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3491548.html
4) Covet Thy Neighbor by L.A. Witt

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

First of all, I was surprise to find out this was an historical romance, I don’t know but I was of the wrong impression it was more sci-fi/fantasy. In a way, there is a steampunk flavour on it, it’s not that the author pushed much on fantasy details, but I think she took some “liberties” to make the story more a romance than a historical novel. For example, John Fauth is a University professor and a scientist, and his machine to find noble metals seems a little too much futuristic to be true, but I’m not so familiar with the various scientific discoveries and their time to be able to tell how much far from reality the author went. Another of such liberties is maybe the forced profession of Robert Belton, a male prostitute in a brothel in Seattle; while it’s true molly houses and similar places were already existing at the time, a saloon/slash brother in a frontier town like Seattle in 1898 I think was not a common place to find a male prostitute. Again the author made it believable, specifying Robert is a “necessary” evil thing, according to the owner of the brothel; but I wonder who would have been the courage at the time to enter such a place and openly ask for a man instead of a woman (since women were available); from Robert’s words, even if they were not the majority, and the women gained more money than him, he still had customers.

In any case, from my point of view, these were more positive than negative aspects, they made the story more “light” and easy to enjoy. That is probably the main thread of this story, it was quite romantic, sometime even sweet, despite the event that those men had sex without even knowing each other names, and it was more focused on them than on the adventure part of the plot. In the end, John’s target completely changed, and by the way, since the beginning, he was not the aloof professor someone could imagine, but more a man in love, basking in the warm given by the proximity with the object of that love.

Robert is a man who had to do what it had to be done, not for some teary story about little brothers or ailing parents, but simply since he lost all his money gambling and now he has to find a way to pay his ticket to Klondike and an hypothetical treasure (the gold). He doesn’t like what he is doing, but not for the sex per se, but more since he would like to be able to have it with someone he likes more than with strangers. When he meets John, it is a dream comes true, also since John seems to not be reticent to admit his preferences in bed companions, and he is quite good when he is into that be with someone else.

Amazon Kindle: Noble Metals
Publisher: Carnal Passions (January 2, 2012)

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle