Your first memory of me

Gacked from ashmedai and snowmore:

"If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you."

Your first memory of me

Gacked from ashmedai and snowmore:

"If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you."

Delle Jacobs: From Sweet Traditional Regencies to Hot and Sexy Historicals

I just added a new post to the "Chatting with" series on "Rosa is for Romance".

Delle Jacobs: From Sweet Traditional Regencies to Hot and Sexy Historicals

"Thanks so much for inviting me, Elisa. It's quite amazing how we can "talk" to someone half a world away, isn't it?

It seems like I've been trying to write since I was a small child. Everyone in my family loved to read, so I learned early, but I wanted to tell my own stories. I was nine years old when I first tried to type a story. Unfortunately, just typing was too much for me, and new ideas kept coming out as I was hunting for the keys, so I finally quit. By the time I was fifteen, though, I was writing and occasionally publishing poetry and sort stories.

I didn't seriously set out to be a writer until fifteen years ago. I joined Romance Writers of America, and became the only person to win three of RWA's cherished Golden Hearts. I've been remarkably privileged to be a part of several groups that formed around a common interest. A few of them are The Beau Monde, comprised of Regency Era writers, the 2003 Golden Heart finalists who became the Wet Noodle Posse, and my local chapter, Rose City Romance Writers."

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/17480258/

Delle Jacobs: From Sweet Traditional Regencies to Hot and Sexy Historicals

I just added a new post to the "Chatting with" series on "Rosa is for Romance".

Delle Jacobs: From Sweet Traditional Regencies to Hot and Sexy Historicals

"Thanks so much for inviting me, Elisa. It's quite amazing how we can "talk" to someone half a world away, isn't it?

It seems like I've been trying to write since I was a small child. Everyone in my family loved to read, so I learned early, but I wanted to tell my own stories. I was nine years old when I first tried to type a story. Unfortunately, just typing was too much for me, and new ideas kept coming out as I was hunting for the keys, so I finally quit. By the time I was fifteen, though, I was writing and occasionally publishing poetry and sort stories.

I didn't seriously set out to be a writer until fifteen years ago. I joined Romance Writers of America, and became the only person to win three of RWA's cherished Golden Hearts. I've been remarkably privileged to be a part of several groups that formed around a common interest. A few of them are The Beau Monde, comprised of Regency Era writers, the 2003 Golden Heart finalists who became the Wet Noodle Posse, and my local chapter, Rose City Romance Writers."

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/17480258/

The Barbary Coast (In Bear Country 2) by Kiernan Kelly

In Bear Country Kiernan Kelly told us the story of Pride and Bear, two men of the mid of eighteen century who find love when they don't expect it. Above all since Bear was almost an hermit and he didn't think possible to love a man. Instead Pride is all alone and without family since he likes man, and in the common society this is a huge sin, something he can't reveal.

Alone in a cabin, Bear and Pride built a world of their own. The story was very good, but it was limited to that world, cozy and secluded. They didn't interact with the real world which banished them.

The Barbary Coast takes up where we left them and fills up the only weak point of the previous book, putting Bear and Pride among other people. Bear and Pride travel from Denver to San Francisco, since Pride wants to see the ocean. They don't know what to expect, they don't know the big cities, and San Francisco is a boiling city, but also a very dangerous one. Both Pride than Bear are simple men, they are too good and of open heart, and with the newfound wealthy from the previous book, they can allow to buy things and treat themself with the best hotels and restaurants. And also to help Jackson, a young boy they meet during their stay in San Francisco.

The Barbary Coast is an interesting reading for the historical setting, a San Francisco I was familiar thanks to movies and other historical romances: probably an ideal setting since it was a city that, at the end of the nineteen century gathered a lot of people from different origins and social status. And in this book Bear and Pride have the change to test their love and their boundaries, and to see if it's strong enough to survive also outside their secluded cabin.

I like Bear and Pride, but they are a bit naivee, almost innocent. I believe they are very lucky since during their journey they dare many time the fate, and the fate is kind with them. Probably not very true, in the real world, with their open attitude, they would be killed once they step outside the cabin, and instead, in this book, they meet Native American, cops, private investigators, chinese mafia, and so on, always escaping without problems, and sometime also with a nice experience.

Kiernan Kelly amuses herself and the readers, scattering many little historical details (daguerreotypes, Pinkertons...) which always make you feel more real the setting.  

Amazon: In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast
Amazon Kindle: In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Torquere Press (June 27, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1603704027
ISBN-13: 978-1603704021

Series: In Bear Country
1) In Bear Country: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/73216.html
2) The Barbary Coast

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


Cover Art by Rose Meloche

The Barbary Coast (In Bear Country 2) by Kiernan Kelly

In Bear Country Kiernan Kelly told us the story of Pride and Bear, two men of the mid of eighteen century who find love when they don't expect it. Above all since Bear was almost an hermit and he didn't think possible to love a man. Instead Pride is all alone and without family since he likes man, and in the common society this is a huge sin, something he can't reveal.

Alone in a cabin, Bear and Pride built a world of their own. The story was very good, but it was limited to that world, cozy and secluded. They didn't interact with the real world which banished them.

The Barbary Coast takes up where we left them and fills up the only weak point of the previous book, putting Bear and Pride among other people. Bear and Pride travel from Denver to San Francisco, since Pride wants to see the ocean. They don't know what to expect, they don't know the big cities, and San Francisco is a boiling city, but also a very dangerous one. Both Pride than Bear are simple men, they are too good and of open heart, and with the newfound wealthy from the previous book, they can allow to buy things and treat themself with the best hotels and restaurants. And also to help Jackson, a young boy they meet during their stay in San Francisco.

The Barbary Coast is an interesting reading for the historical setting, a San Francisco I was familiar thanks to movies and other historical romances: probably an ideal setting since it was a city that, at the end of the nineteen century gathered a lot of people from different origins and social status. And in this book Bear and Pride have the change to test their love and their boundaries, and to see if it's strong enough to survive also outside their secluded cabin.

I like Bear and Pride, but they are a bit naivee, almost innocent. I believe they are very lucky since during their journey they dare many time the fate, and the fate is kind with them. Probably not very true, in the real world, with their open attitude, they would be killed once they step outside the cabin, and instead, in this book, they meet Native American, cops, private investigators, chinese mafia, and so on, always escaping without problems, and sometime also with a nice experience.

Kiernan Kelly amuses herself and the readers, scattering many little historical details (daguerreotypes, Pinkertons...) which always make you feel more real the setting.  

http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart

Amazon Kindle: In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast

Amazon: In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast

Series: In Bear Country
1) In Bear Country: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/73216.html
2) The Barbary Coast

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Rose Meloche

The Boy Next Door by G.A. Hauser

I always love G.A. Hauser's books, they are easy to read and very romantic, with a "acid" side, it's not easy to explain, but her romances are never too sugary, since there is always a bit of naughty side in her characters.

The Boy Next Door is a coming of age book. I didn't expect that a great part of the book is dedicated to the relationship between Brandon and Zach when they where stil two teens in heat. Brandon and Zach always live next door, and since they were one years old, everything they did they did it together: the first sexual curiosity, the first hot glances to a naked body... and since they did all together, they did also the first sexual experience together and with each other. First kiss and eventually first time sex. But unfortunately their parents were not so glad of it and they torn them apart, sending Zach to Boston and Brandon to New York and Zach's parents managed to lose contact. When Brandon meets again Zach, he is a successful journalist, openly gay, and instead Zach is a soon-to-be divorced womanizer... something is happened in Zach's past. Is he ready to leave the past behind and build something new with Brandon?

I always like the story involving teens, and so I'm very happy to find that most of the book is spent telling us the story of Zach and Brandon as young boys. My only regret is that the book is relative short, 170 pages. I said "relative", since this is not a short novel, but since the two characters are so nice, and I like them, I'd like to read more, and I think it'd be interesting to read about Zach and Brandon as adults, and how they manage to be together; I feel like the second part of the story is too fast, and like I'm not just ready to leave Zach and Brandon and their story.

Brandon is apparently the shier boy, he has already realized to be in love with Zach but he fears to reveal his feeling to the other boy, he doesn't want to be reject by Zach. And so he is surprise, but happy, when the other boy makes the first move. But Zach, even if eager to be with Brandon, and always the first to push the sexual boundaries and to experiment with their young bodies, he is also the first to fear the reaction of the people, above all of their parents, but also of strangers. He thinks to be ready to give free rein to his body demands, but he is not ready to openly claim his sexuality. In this aspect, Brandon is much more adult.

After all, probably nor Zach or Brandon were enough grown for what they had. Since they were always together, they arrived too much soon to something that other people find further in their life. And since they were not ready to claim their love, it was easier for their parents to stop them. But as adults, I don't think the situation is much more different: Brandon is still the more balanced between the two, and Zach is still the one struggling with his own sexuality.

Both Zach and Brandon are not "noble" characters. This is one of the characteristic that I always find in Hauser's characters: they are men who mistake and mistake badly, but more often than not, find a justification for their action and with it an absolution; worst, sometime they also continue to behave badly, if this allow them to obtain what they want, sooner and in an easy way. So why I like them so much? maybe since they are not the perfect hero of the fable and they are more similar to the real people, and so to me.

In all the book I found only one thing that didn't ring right to me: the easiness in which Brandon and Zach approach sex, above all anal sex... it was all too simple, all went to right and without problem... don't know maybe it's only a "female" perception, and for two boys things are different.  

Amazon: The Boy Next Door
Amazon Kindle: The Boy Next Door
Paperback: 182 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 12, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1449592848
ISBN-13: 978-1449592844

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

The Boy Next Door by G.A. Hauser

I always love G.A. Hauser's books, they are easy to read and very romantic, with a "acid" side, it's not easy to explain, but her romances are never too sugary, since there is always a bit of naughty side in her characters.

The Boy Next Door is a coming of age book. I didn't expect that a great part of the book is dedicated to the relationship between Brandon and Zach when they where stil two teens in heat. Brandon and Zach always live next door, and since they were one years old, everything they did they did it together: the first sexual curiosity, the first hot glances to a naked body... and since they did all together, they did also the first sexual experience together and with each other. First kiss and eventually first time sex. But unfortunately their parents were not so glad of it and they torn them apart, sending Zach to Boston and Brandon to New York and Zach's parents managed to lose contact. When Brandon meets again Zach, he is a successful journalist, openly gay, and instead Zach is a soon-to-be divorced womanizer... something is happened in Zach's past. Is he ready to leave the past behind and build something new with Brandon?

I always like the story involving teens, and so I'm very happy to find that most of the book is spent telling us the story of Zach and Brandon as young boys. My only regret is that the book is relative short, 170 pages. I said "relative", since this is not a short novel, but since the two characters are so nice, and I like them, I'd like to read more, and I think it'd be interesting to read about Zach and Brandon as adults, and how they manage to be together; I feel like the second part of the story is too fast, and like I'm not just ready to leave Zach and Brandon and their story.

Brandon is apparently the shier boy, he has already realized to be in love with Zach but he fears to reveal his feeling to the other boy, he doesn't want to be reject by Zach. And so he is surprise, but happy, when the other boy makes the first move. But Zach, even if eager to be with Brandon, and always the first to push the sexual boundaries and to experiment with their young bodies, he is also the first to fear the reaction of the people, above all of their parents, but also of strangers. He thinks to be ready to give free rein to his body demands, but he is not ready to openly claim his sexuality. In this aspect, Brandon is much more adult.

After all, probably nor Zach or Brandon were enough grown for what they had. Since they were always together, they arrived too much soon to something that other people find further in their life. And since they were not ready to claim their love, it was easier for their parents to stop them. But as adults, I don't think the situation is much more different: Brandon is still the more balanced between the two, and Zach is still the one struggling with his own sexuality.

Both Zach and Brandon are not "noble" characters. This is one of the characteristic that I always find in Hauser's characters: they are men who mistake and mistake badly, but more often than not, find a justification for their action and with it an absolution; worst, sometime they also continue to behave badly, if this allow them to obtain what they want, sooner and in an easy way. So why I like them so much? maybe since they are not the perfect hero of the fable and they are more similar to the real people, and so to me.

In all the book I found only one thing that didn't ring right to me: the easiness in which Brandon and Zach approach sex, above all anal sex... it was all too simple, all went to right and without problem... don't know maybe it's only a "female" perception, and for two boys things are different.  

Amazon: The Boy Next Door

Amazon Kindle: The Boy Next Door

Reading List:

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