Food and Books by Drew Zachary

With a title like this one I can't no read it as soon as possible! Garett is a cop and a nice guy. He likes is ordinary life and his prim and proper attitude. Late night shifts, a neat and clean house, some sports, a night out with regular friends and his life is pretty full. Not so full that he can't enjoy two nights at his favourite bookstore, managed by two old ladies that treat him like a nephew. And in one of these nights he meets Nate, another regular of the bookstore. Nate is a cook and like Garett he takes off from work pretty late and he likes to pass by the bookstore to rest and relax in the comfy chairs. And when he meets Garett he has one more reason to like the two old ladies who play the matchmaker role.

Garett and Nate get along well, even if Garett is a bit uptight and Nate is more a bohemien type. But they have a lot in common, and there are all the premises for a good and lasting relationship to start.

Food and Books is a single shots and so it's not very long, less than 35 pages, but it's nice and erotic. Even if Garett and Nate don't jump at each other bones at first date, much for Garett's decision, they regain the time lost pretty soon at second date. So much of the book is the tale of their second date with two fast and furious sex scenes and a fast glimpse to their future together. But even if the book is only a novella, it's smooth and enjoyable, with two comfy and homey characters, two ordinary people you can easily find in real life.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2215

Amazon Kindle: Food and Books

Reading List:

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

A survey regarding a GLBT author/reader event in Richmond

A survey regarding a GLBT author/reader event in Richmond.

From the organizer, J.M. Snyder:

It would be a mini-con, almost, with a meet-and-greet Friday night and an all-day author signing/book sale Saturday.

If you're interested, please fill out my survey to help me get this underway. Feel free to forward this to your readers and fellow authors, as well.

Once I get some idea of what people want to see at such an event, I will begin solidifying details!

A survey regarding a GLBT author/reader event in Richmond

A survey regarding a GLBT author/reader event in Richmond.

From the organizer, J.M. Snyder:

It would be a mini-con, almost, with a meet-and-greet Friday night and an all-day author signing/book sale Saturday.

If you're interested, please fill out my survey to help me get this underway. Feel free to forward this to your readers and fellow authors, as well.

Once I get some idea of what people want to see at such an event, I will begin solidifying details!

High Country by Michael Barnette

I have a strange feeling at the end of this novel, I read a paranormal novel that is not a paranormal... No it's not the late hour that makes me going crazy, it's only that the author chooses to tell a shapeshifter erotic romance, and he stated it clearly more or less from the first moment, when Brad, after having sex with Linn, finds out that his new lover is not exactly human, but then they behave like it was nothing important, like being Linn a puca, one third horses, one third wold and one third elf, it's like having a strange hair color. This is probably the most interesting and original side of the book, in a way being a fae creature is not something that makes you "different", Linn is your everyday cowboy, and he and Brad behave like any normal man out there.

Brad is a sci-fiction author in searching of a nice and quite place to write. Just out from an abusive relationship, he wants only to rest and relax. But when he arrives to Linn's ranch, he changes his idea: Linn is a wonderful stud, and Brad wants a piece of that. There is very few trouble, or remorse on having only a month together, Brad and Linn are having sex from night one. But soon after their first encounter, Linn can't hide his true nature, and Brad understands that the man who just left his bed is not a man... any other man would have packed and gone in a blur of a second, Brad instead simply asks if Linn has any idea to kill him, and to his negative answer, he invites the man back in bed.

From that moment on, Brad and Linn are having sex steadily every night and for more than one time at night. No matter that outside there is a strange creature that is after Brad, no matter that that same creature sometime lurks in the shadow just outside Brad's cabin, and that makes his presence known with strange rumors, when Linn is in bed with Brad, nothing can distract them. Actually Brad leaves the cabin only the first day, to go shopping for some food, other than that, he spends all the novel inside the cabin, writing, cooking and waiting for Linn to come back home and having sex.

See? that's the most normal paranormal romance I have ever read. It's like the author was thinking that, any paranormal event he could write, the reader already knew, and so why not instead be all happy with some nice and good and often and detailed sex scenes? Yes, yes, there is an evil monster out there, yes, yes, Linn is not exactly Mr Ordinary Man, but does it matter? No.

Another thing I noticed is the approach to the relationship and sex; it's erotic without being sugary. That is quite a difficult task to achieve; it's a dry and good approach, and I use "dry" not with a negative connation: Linn and Brad like to have sex, and this is clear to the reader; they are open and free with their sexuality, and I like their down to earth attitude towards sex. At first Brad and Linn lust after each other and nothing else. There is no romantic idea, Brad is thinking to have fun for one month and so is Linn. The sex is good, and as I said before, even when Brad finds out the true, it's not so important, in a month Brad will be far from this place, and while he is there he can have fun. Even when the relationship between them evolves in something more, still they face it with a careless and happy-to-go perspective: why bother too much with such uneventful things like having a relationship with an otherworldly being?

For sure High Country is not your typical paranormal romance, even in the writing style, with both men pondering aloud in their mind about things. But among among the abundance of paranormal romance out there, I felt like this one was different, in a good way.

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-High_Country-991.aspx

Amazon: High Country

Setting the rules for the Rainbow Awards, first phase will start soon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/799266.html


Cover Art by April Martinez