Dear Santa by Jaelyn Storm

The starting point of the story is pretty classic, the kid best friends who ask to Santa to find a partner for their fathers as Christmas wish. The twist is that both fathers are gay and it's pretty obvious that Santa's work is easy, since the natural conclusion can be only that the two get together.

So let talk of the nice things apart the love story. First of all the nicest things are the two kids, a girl, Veronica, and a boy, Bobby. They are too old for their age. Veronica's mother left after discovering his husband betrayal and homosexuality: yes Lucas, Veronica's father, was a cheater, but it's a past thing, and then he obviously didn't love his wife; and if someone wants to start the discussion on why he married if he was gay, well, can we admit that this is a more common event than not?

Mike's story is a little different: openly gay he was Bobby's uncle; when his twin sister and her husband died in an accident, Mike found out that he was Bobby's guardian. Bobby's relatives from his father's side questioned his right as Bobby's guardian and arrived also to make him arrested for child abuse. Paying a good lawyer Mike won, but now he is paying of high bill and few friends remain around him.

Till now the story was interesting but pretty classic. The twist arrives with the yaoi elements: Mike is almost an androgynous character, the perfect uke; shy when arriving to sex, he has an unquestionable hidden predisposition, he also perfomed in drag before stopping to avoid problem with Bobby's guardianship. But Lucas, who was aroused to his inner desires by a Japanese first male lover, finds Mike's very intriguing, and all his alpha male instincts are high and ready to hunt. And yes, in this case Mike is quite a "female in disguise" character, he is the mother type, he cooks, he is the housekeeper, he also wears a dress! but well, he is in character.

It's a bit strange to read of Lucas' naughty desire when all around is Christmas time, and there are kids writing "Dear Santa" letters and the atmosphere is more family like than anything else, but it's a nice counterpoint.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.htm

Reading List:

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

Dear Santa by Jaelyn Storm

The starting point of the story is pretty classic, the kid best friends who ask to Santa to find a partner for their fathers as Christmas wish. The twist is that both fathers are gay and it's pretty obvious that Santa's work is easy, since the natural conclusion can be only that the two get together.

So let talk of the nice things apart the love story. First of all the nicest things are the two kids, a girl, Veronica, and a boy, Bobby. They are too old for their age. Veronica's mother left after discovering his husband betrayal and homosexuality: yes Lucas, Veronica's father, was a cheater, but it's a past thing, and then he obviously didn't love his wife; and if someone wants to start the discussion on why he married if he was gay, well, can we admit that this is a more common event than not?

Mike's story is a little different: openly gay he was Bobby's uncle; when his twin sister and her husband died in an accident, Mike found out that he was Bobby's guardian. Bobby's relatives from his father's side questioned his right as Bobby's guardian and arrived also to make him arrested for child abuse. Paying a good lawyer Mike won, but now he is paying of high bill and few friends remain around him.

Till now the story was interesting but pretty classic. The twist arrives with the yaoi elements: Mike is almost an androgynous character, the perfect uke; shy when arriving to sex, he has an unquestionable hidden predisposition, he also perfomed in drag before stopping to avoid problem with Bobby's guardianship. But Lucas, who was aroused to his inner desires by a Japanese first male lover, finds Mike's very intriguing, and all his alpha male instincts are high and ready to hunt. And yes, in this case Mike is quite a "female in disguise" character, he is the mother type, he cooks, he is the housekeeper, he also wears a dress! but well, he is in character.

It's a bit strange to read of Lucas' naughty desire when all around is Christmas time, and there are kids writing "Dear Santa" letters and the atmosphere is more family like than anything else, but it's a nice counterpoint.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.htm

Reading List:

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

Man Candy Day: Kerry Degman

Ok, ok, don't let me start on the old question that Kerry is barely 20, and so way too young for me to drol over him, but... how can I not drol when he is so shamelessly good? In this case I can't use the word "cute" since he is not cute, he has a beauty that is all male, and truth be told, he doesn't seem 20 years old (all right, all right, I'm not trying to find an excuse to post him...). Kerry Justin Degman is one of the favourite Male model of gay websites, since he appears on the front cover of some gay oriented magazine; there were also some controversies since someone said that he couldn't be on the cover of Out without being "out", but, who cares? Beauty has not sex and to like Kerry I haven't to know with whom he shares his bed (if he shares it with someone, read next to know what I mean...).


Black Leather, L'Officiel Hommes, by Milan Vukmirovic

( more pics )

Born on October 4, 1988, in Beaverton, Oregon, he was discovered when he was dropping off his little sister at her modeling agency. During his spare time he likes baseball, skate boarding and guitar. In a short interview with Out.com, at the question “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” he replied “I’m still a virgin”.

He recently works with Steven Klein and Arnaldo Anaya Lucca (photo 2) and he is one of the main model for Ralph Lauren’s Autumn ’08 campaign.

Kerry Degman is a new super-model since he's on the covers of the May, 2008 issues of both Out in the US and Tetu in France. And both magazines choose to feature him with sporty clothing or (in the case of the near-nudes in Tetu) a bit of sports equipment. Two photos above (4 & 5) were shot by Randall Mesdon and used in Tetu.

L’Officiel Hommes #13 Fall/Winter 2008/2009 features a slew of incredible editorials entirely dedicated to the male body, which makes it a total can’t miss. Two photos above (1 & 3) were shot by Milan Vukmirovic, who clearly wanted to remind us that black leather is in — and looks surreal on Kerry Degman.


Kerry Degman by Randall Mesdon for TETU Magazine


Kerry Degman by Randall Mesdon for TETU Magazine

( more pics )

@Major Model Management

Man Candy Day: Kerry Degman

Ok, ok, don't let me start on the old question that Kerry is barely 20, and so way too young for me to drol over him, but... how can I not drol when he is so shamelessly good? In this case I can't use the word "cute" since he is not cute, he has a beauty that is all male, and truth be told, he doesn't seem 20 years old (all right, all right, I'm not trying to find an excuse to post him...). Kerry Justin Degman is one of the favourite Male model of gay websites, since he appears on the front cover of some gay oriented magazine; there were also some controversies since someone said that he couldn't be on the cover of Out without being "out", but, who cares? Beauty has not sex and to like Kerry I haven't to know with whom he shares his bed (if he shares it with someone, read next to know what I mean...).


Black Leather, L'Officiel Hommes, by Milan Vukmirovic

( more pics )

Born on October 4, 1988, in Beaverton, Oregon, he was discovered when he was dropping off his little sister at her modeling agency. During his spare time he likes baseball, skate boarding and guitar. In a short interview with Out.com, at the question “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” he replied “I’m still a virgin”.

He recently works with Steven Klein and Arnaldo Anaya Lucca (photo 2) and he is one of the main model for Ralph Lauren’s Autumn ’08 campaign.

Kerry Degman is a new super-model since he's on the covers of the May, 2008 issues of both Out in the US and Tetu in France. And both magazines choose to feature him with sporty clothing or (in the case of the near-nudes in Tetu) a bit of sports equipment. Two photos above (4 & 5) were shot by Randall Mesdon and used in Tetu.

L’Officiel Hommes #13 Fall/Winter 2008/2009 features a slew of incredible editorials entirely dedicated to the male body, which makes it a total can’t miss. Two photos above (1 & 3) were shot by Milan Vukmirovic, who clearly wanted to remind us that black leather is in — and looks surreal on Kerry Degman.


Kerry Degman by Randall Mesdon for TETU Magazine


Kerry Degman by Randall Mesdon for TETU Magazine

( more pics )

@Major Model Management

Best Overall Gay Novel (1° place): Whistling in the dark by Tamara Allen

ALSO Best Historical Novel (1° place) & Best Writing Style (2° place) & Best Characters (3° place)

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 out 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 store 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.



http://allromanceebooks.com/product-whistlinginthedark-13261-145.html

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon: Whistling in the Dark

Amazon Kindle: Whistling in the Dark

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Lorraine Brevig

Best Overall Gay Novel (1° place): Whistling in the dark by Tamara Allen

ALSO Best Historical Novel (1° place) & Best Writing Style (2° place) & Best Characters (3° place)

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 out 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 store 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.



http://allromanceebooks.com/product-whistlinginthedark-13261-145.html

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon: Whistling in the Dark

Amazon Kindle: Whistling in the Dark

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Lorraine Brevig