A Keen Edge by H. Leigh Aubrey

A Keen Edge was a surprisingly romantic love story. I don’t know, but usually, debut novels by male authors, even if classified romance, tend to be too angst and “realistic”, and since usually real life has very few romance in it, so do the novels. So I have two theories: or H. Leigh Aubrey is one of the few gay men that was so lucky to find a real romance in his life, and so the novel is a true romance since the biographical connotations are not ruining it, or the author is one of the last example of romantic at heart able to write a romance without feeling guilty for being tender with his characters.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not all roses for Neil and Scott, but in a way, they are luckier than most same sex couples, and above all, they have more possibilities (and I’m speaking of financial possibilities) than most of them. It can sound meaning, above all if related to a romance, but the true is that money help a lot: try to be a gay married man who wants to divorce his wife and not losing his kids, and you will see how much money helps.

Basically the story is probably one that many men went through. Neil is 27 years old and recently divorced; from a very conservative family and always trying to do the best to appease them, he married young and tried to be the perfect husband. But he was not able to go through to the farce, and now he is divorced and living thousand of miles away his family who doesn’t want to see him. In the new town he befriends his boss’s son and colleague, the 37 years old Scott. Scott seems to be what Neil was not able to become, married to the perfect society wife with three teenager sons.

When it’s clear from the first meeting that Neil and Scott are drawn to each other, I was thinking, “Ok, this is a good “ordinary” romance, now Scott realizes he is gay and in love with Neil, and they will find a way to be together”. Well, I was “almost” right, but there was a leak in my theory: Scott is more similar to Neil of what Neil thinks. Not only Scott is gay, he is since he first had sex with a guy when he was 14 years old, and he is in a “steady” friends with benefits relationship with that same guy since then. Really, it was like a bomb fall on me: usually I don’t like cheating man, but guys, that gave a whole different reading on Scott’s character. It made him imperfectly perfect!

Maybe it helps a bit in my liking Scott the fact that Paula, the society wife, is not exactly an easy woman to like. She does all the things you can think to estrange Scott, arriving even to tell him that she doesn’t like sex with him, that he is not good at it. Well if you want to have a man hate you, that is probably the best way. And then the reader knows that it’s not true, Scott is having sex with his best friend, and then with Neil, and both of them think different. It’s clear that Paula is not the right woman for Scott, and not only since she is obviously, well, a woman.

Even if Scott is not exactly a knight in shining armour, and neither the epitome of courageous man, he is living in denial for more than 20 years!, well, I really liked him. I liked that he was not all over Neil from moment one, I liked that he tried to not hurt him or his family, but at the same time that he was unable to deny their love, for me it was not a sign of weakness, it was the proof that there was not easy choice.

Maybe the ending is a bit too much as if the author was looking through a pink glass lens, but I stated at the beginning that I think to author is a romantic at heart and so I took it as a sign that I was indeed reading a romance. If you can’t have an happily ever after, it’s not a romance.

Amazon: A Keen Edge: A Novel

Reading List:

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

A Keen Edge by H. Leigh Aubrey

A Keen Edge was a surprisingly romantic love story. I don’t know, but usually, debut novels by male authors, even if classified romance, tend to be too angst and “realistic”, and since usually real life has very few romance in it, so do the novels. So I have two theories: or H. Leigh Aubrey is one of the few gay men that was so lucky to find a real romance in his life, and so the novel is a true romance since the biographical connotations are not ruining it, or the author is one of the last example of romantic at heart able to write a romance without feeling guilty for being tender with his characters.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not all roses for Neil and Scott, but in a way, they are luckier than most same sex couples, and above all, they have more possibilities (and I’m speaking of financial possibilities) than most of them. It can sound meaning, above all if related to a romance, but the true is that money help a lot: try to be a gay married man who wants to divorce his wife and not losing his kids, and you will see how much money helps.

Basically the story is probably one that many men went through. Neil is 27 years old and recently divorced; from a very conservative family and always trying to do the best to appease them, he married young and tried to be the perfect husband. But he was not able to go through to the farce, and now he is divorced and living thousand of miles away his family who doesn’t want to see him. In the new town he befriends his boss’s son and colleague, the 37 years old Scott. Scott seems to be what Neil was not able to become, married to the perfect society wife with three teenager sons.

When it’s clear from the first meeting that Neil and Scott are drawn to each other, I was thinking, “Ok, this is a good “ordinary” romance, now Scott realizes he is gay and in love with Neil, and they will find a way to be together”. Well, I was “almost” right, but there was a leak in my theory: Scott is more similar to Neil of what Neil thinks. Not only Scott is gay, he is since he first had sex with a guy when he was 14 years old, and he is in a “steady” friends with benefits relationship with that same guy since then. Really, it was like a bomb fall on me: usually I don’t like cheating man, but guys, that gave a whole different reading on Scott’s character. It made him imperfectly perfect!

Maybe it helps a bit in my liking Scott the fact that Paula, the society wife, is not exactly an easy woman to like. She does all the things you can think to estrange Scott, arriving even to tell him that she doesn’t like sex with him, that he is not good at it. Well if you want to have a man hate you, that is probably the best way. And then the reader knows that it’s not true, Scott is having sex with his best friend, and then with Neil, and both of them think different. It’s clear that Paula is not the right woman for Scott, and not only since she is obviously, well, a woman.

Even if Scott is not exactly a knight in shining armour, and neither the epitome of courageous man, he is living in denial for more than 20 years!, well, I really liked him. I liked that he was not all over Neil from moment one, I liked that he tried to not hurt him or his family, but at the same time that he was unable to deny their love, for me it was not a sign of weakness, it was the proof that there was not easy choice.

Maybe the ending is a bit too much as if the author was looking through a pink glass lens, but I stated at the beginning that I think to author is a romantic at heart and so I took it as a sign that I was indeed reading a romance. If you can’t have an happily ever after, it’s not a romance.

Amazon: A Keen Edge: A Novel

Reading List:

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

Bodyguards in Love, Volume One, by Carol Lynne

Brier’s Bargain by Carol Lynne

More than one year ago I read Bram’s story; it was part of the first series by Carol Lynne, one she started with Ellora’s Cave and then continued with Total-e-Bound. Brier was the evil twin of Bram, but in reality he was an abused child, turned in an abused young man. Brier was the product of lack of love, and so he didn’t learn what love is. In another book by Carol Lynne, Reunion, Brier has his first taste of love with Jackie, a colleague of his brother Bram, but he looses also this love, even if temporarily. Now it’s the time to tell his story, and to give him his happily ever after, and to do that, Carol Lynne has decided to start a new whole series, Bodyguards in Love.

Jackie is on a mission abroad, and Brier misses him; it’s not easy to write Brier’s character since he has a mental handicap and it’s not something he will ever be able to overcome. Brier will never be like a “normal” man, he will always have an unsteady mood, and he will always see the world in a different way from other people. He has the eyes of a child but the body and desires of a man; someone can argue that Jackie should not have sex with him, since Brier doesn’t fully understand what an adult relationship is, but I don’t agree with this position. Having sex is something natural, and very much linked with your body; it’s also a question of mind, sharing your body has to be a conscious choice, but Brier wants to have sex with Jackie. I’m really tempted to read Reunion, even if it’s a ménages a trois M/M/F, and usually I don’t like them, only to see how the author managed the first meeting between Jackie and Brier, and if their relationship, of better the budding of their relationship had some explanation in that book. In any case, I like the output of it, I had the feeling that Jackie gives strength to Brier, and at the same time, now that also Jackie has a physical handicap (he lost half a leg in a work related incident), Brier feels somewhat more useful, and to a nearer level than before to Jackie.

There is not too much drama, probably Brier had enough of it in the two previous stories where he was in, and Brier’s Bargain is more a romance, as I said, the time for him to be happy; and so the story is also all centred around him, Jackie is a supporting/supportive character, but it’s Brier who catches all the spotlight. I think Carol Lynne had an happy hand with him, she didn’t underestimate Brier’s issues, but even with them, she manages to give him an ordinary, and happy, love story.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=585

Amazon Kindle: Bodyguards in Love: Brier's Bargain

Amazon: Bodyguards in Love Volume One: Brier's Bargain / Seb's Surrender
Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (February 15, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0857150596
ISBN-13: 978-0857150592

Reading List:

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

Bodyguards in Love, Volume One, by Carol Lynne

Brier’s Bargain by Carol Lynne

More than one year ago I read Bram’s story; it was part of the first series by Carol Lynne, one she started with Ellora’s Cave and then continued with Total-e-Bound. Brier was the evil twin of Bram, but in reality he was an abused child, turned in an abused young man. Brier was the product of lack of love, and so he didn’t learn what love is. In another book by Carol Lynne, Reunion, Brier has his first taste of love with Jackie, a colleague of his brother Bram, but he looses also this love, even if temporarily. Now it’s the time to tell his story, and to give him his happily ever after, and to do that, Carol Lynne has decided to start a new whole series, Bodyguards in Love.

Jackie is on a mission abroad, and Brier misses him; it’s not easy to write Brier’s character since he has a mental handicap and it’s not something he will ever be able to overcome. Brier will never be like a “normal” man, he will always have an unsteady mood, and he will always see the world in a different way from other people. He has the eyes of a child but the body and desires of a man; someone can argue that Jackie should not have sex with him, since Brier doesn’t fully understand what an adult relationship is, but I don’t agree with this position. Having sex is something natural, and very much linked with your body; it’s also a question of mind, sharing your body has to be a conscious choice, but Brier wants to have sex with Jackie. I’m really tempted to read Reunion, even if it’s a ménages a trois M/M/F, and usually I don’t like them, only to see how the author managed the first meeting between Jackie and Brier, and if their relationship, of better the budding of their relationship had some explanation in that book. In any case, I like the output of it, I had the feeling that Jackie gives strength to Brier, and at the same time, now that also Jackie has a physical handicap (he lost half a leg in a work related incident), Brier feels somewhat more useful, and to a nearer level than before to Jackie.

There is not too much drama, probably Brier had enough of it in the two previous stories where he was in, and Brier’s Bargain is more a romance, as I said, the time for him to be happy; and so the story is also all centred around him, Jackie is a supporting/supportive character, but it’s Brier who catches all the spotlight. I think Carol Lynne had an happy hand with him, she didn’t underestimate Brier’s issues, but even with them, she manages to give him an ordinary, and happy, love story.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=585

Amazon Kindle: Bodyguards in Love: Brier's Bargain

Amazon: Bodyguards in Love Volume One: Brier's Bargain / Seb's Surrender
Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (February 15, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0857150596
ISBN-13: 978-0857150592

Reading List:

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

Man Candy Day: Ty Baxter, Roger Garth & Jonne Aaron

This week I would like to feature the androgynous man, or that boy who is often described in books as too pretty to be a man (as if pretty and man are two words that can not coexist, mah...). Strangely, all three examples I found are blond and ephebic, perhaps in my imagination the dark handsome man is not adrogynous ;-) and indeed, although very pretty, I think that in any case, if I crossed them on the street, I would not doubt that they are men.

Ty Baxter is a South African folk singer living in London, with a dreamy voice and lickable, mischevious smirk.



( Ty Baxter )

Ty Baxter was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. At an early age his parents divorced, this coupled with the turbulent political realities at the time left him with a strong desire to create something beautiful in a world in which beauty seemed hard to come by. At the age of 10 Ty started his first year at a boarding school. Ty found the place enchanting and mystical but also very lonely. To combat this and his home-sickness he started keeping journals of all his thoughts and ideas, without really knowing it had started songwriting.Ty instantly took command of the audience. He has a tremendous amount of stage presence. The first thing that strikes you is his unmistakable distinctive style (look). His musical style of melodic pop would not be out of place in the charts. From the heart wrenching lullaby “Whispered Words” to “Skin Deep”. Ty has the full package. He has great vocals, melodies & abundance of stage presence.

Go listen his music, it's really awesome: http://www.myspace.com/mrtybaxter

Roger Garth is an Italian top model, dubber, television man, and actor who began his career when he was very young lending his face to a lot of children advertising.



( Roger Garth )

In television he was in The Mickey Mouse Club, a show that produced artists like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera (in the USA). In the ‘90s his voice is in many American cartoons like Alvin and the Chipmunks. Garth began working in the fashion world, to become in a few years one of the most successful male model for campaigns, calendars and catwalks for important name in the fashion world, Calvin Klein to Dior. In 2007, his face is chosen to launch the new line of Alviero Martini, with bags bearing the image of Garth. For a short time he is on theatre stage playing Dorian Gray. His acting career continued with the movie “Identità Inattese” in 2005. In the spring of 2006 he is the co-host, along with Heather Locklear and Rachel Dratch, of the Saturday Night Live. Its activity as dubber for cartoon continues with the television series created by Seth MacFarlane, American Dad. In September 2006 he joined the cast of Markette, an Italian tv show conducted by Piero Chiambretti on La7, and he has an instant success and he is reconfirmed through 2007 and 2008. In 2007, he is the lead in the movie Flylight (Il Volo Leggero). He had a music program on Italian MTV and a fashion program on Fashion TV. Since 2007 he is columnist and models tutor in the program Modeland on All Music and in the winter of the same year he was chosen by Stacy London for the program Fashionably Late, on American television. Roger had to change the look of the chosen people, all shot in the heart of Manhattan on a wild ride in the shopping world of New York. In 2008 Roger Garth had a love affair with Alessandro Cecchi Paone, an Italian journalist and tv showman, who is quite older than Roger.

Jonne Aaron Liimatainen (born August 30, 1983 in Tampere) is a Finnish singer and frontman of Negative.



( Jonne Aaron )

Jonne was born in Tampere, Finland as Jonne Aaron Liimatainen, but as his last name is difficult to pronounce for non-Finnish speakers, he has substituted his middle name for his last. Jonne was brought up in foster care due to alcoholic and abusive parents. His brother Tommi knew that he needed tough love. He skipped school and guitar lessons preferring to hide in his room. He is currently the lead singer and lyricist of the Finnish glam rock band Negative. He has two brothers, Tommi, also his manager, and younger brother, Ville, who is also a musician, he is the lead singer of Flinch. Jonne is known for being very, very shy. He can play guitar and sometimes will play acoustic during concerts. He can also play a little bit of piano, drums, and bass. He plays the harmonica solo in the Negative song Until You're Mine. He has also mentioned in past interviews that Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Bloodwych, and Guns N' Roses inspired him to begin a musical career. In his teens, Jonne formed Negative with his friend, Jay. Later Antti, Kristian (Sir Christus) and Lauri (Larry Love) joined the band.

Man Candy Day: Ty Baxter, Roger Garth & Jonne Aaron

This week I would like to feature the androgynous man, or that boy who is often described in books as too pretty to be a man (as if pretty and man are two words that can not coexist, mah...). Strangely, all three examples I found are blond and ephebic, perhaps in my imagination the dark handsome man is not adrogynous ;-) and indeed, although very pretty, I think that in any case, if I crossed them on the street, I would not doubt that they are men.

Ty Baxter is a South African folk singer living in London, with a dreamy voice and lickable, mischevious smirk.



( Ty Baxter )

Ty Baxter was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. At an early age his parents divorced, this coupled with the turbulent political realities at the time left him with a strong desire to create something beautiful in a world in which beauty seemed hard to come by. At the age of 10 Ty started his first year at a boarding school. Ty found the place enchanting and mystical but also very lonely. To combat this and his home-sickness he started keeping journals of all his thoughts and ideas, without really knowing it had started songwriting.Ty instantly took command of the audience. He has a tremendous amount of stage presence. The first thing that strikes you is his unmistakable distinctive style (look). His musical style of melodic pop would not be out of place in the charts. From the heart wrenching lullaby “Whispered Words” to “Skin Deep”. Ty has the full package. He has great vocals, melodies & abundance of stage presence.

Go listen his music, it's really awesome: http://www.myspace.com/mrtybaxter

Roger Garth is an Italian top model, dubber, television man, and actor who began his career when he was very young lending his face to a lot of children advertising.



( Roger Garth )

In television he was in The Mickey Mouse Club, a show that produced artists like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera (in the USA). In the ‘90s his voice is in many American cartoons like Alvin and the Chipmunks. Garth began working in the fashion world, to become in a few years one of the most successful male model for campaigns, calendars and catwalks for important name in the fashion world, Calvin Klein to Dior. In 2007, his face is chosen to launch the new line of Alviero Martini, with bags bearing the image of Garth. For a short time he is on theatre stage playing Dorian Gray. His acting career continued with the movie “Identità Inattese” in 2005. In the spring of 2006 he is the co-host, along with Heather Locklear and Rachel Dratch, of the Saturday Night Live. Its activity as dubber for cartoon continues with the television series created by Seth MacFarlane, American Dad. In September 2006 he joined the cast of Markette, an Italian tv show conducted by Piero Chiambretti on La7, and he has an instant success and he is reconfirmed through 2007 and 2008. In 2007, he is the lead in the movie Flylight (Il Volo Leggero). He had a music program on Italian MTV and a fashion program on Fashion TV. Since 2007 he is columnist and models tutor in the program Modeland on All Music and in the winter of the same year he was chosen by Stacy London for the program Fashionably Late, on American television. Roger had to change the look of the chosen people, all shot in the heart of Manhattan on a wild ride in the shopping world of New York. In 2008 Roger Garth had a love affair with Alessandro Cecchi Paone, an Italian journalist and tv showman, who is quite older than Roger.

Jonne Aaron Liimatainen (born August 30, 1983 in Tampere) is a Finnish singer and frontman of Negative.



( Jonne Aaron )

Jonne was born in Tampere, Finland as Jonne Aaron Liimatainen, but as his last name is difficult to pronounce for non-Finnish speakers, he has substituted his middle name for his last. Jonne was brought up in foster care due to alcoholic and abusive parents. His brother Tommi knew that he needed tough love. He skipped school and guitar lessons preferring to hide in his room. He is currently the lead singer and lyricist of the Finnish glam rock band Negative. He has two brothers, Tommi, also his manager, and younger brother, Ville, who is also a musician, he is the lead singer of Flinch. Jonne is known for being very, very shy. He can play guitar and sometimes will play acoustic during concerts. He can also play a little bit of piano, drums, and bass. He plays the harmonica solo in the Negative song Until You're Mine. He has also mentioned in past interviews that Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Bloodwych, and Guns N' Roses inspired him to begin a musical career. In his teens, Jonne formed Negative with his friend, Jay. Later Antti, Kristian (Sir Christus) and Lauri (Larry Love) joined the band.

Bastards and Pretty Boys by K.Z. Snow

It’s not much the story that made an interesting reading of Bastards and Pretty Boys for me, but the characters. First of all, there is a countercurrent development of them, the pretty boy is the bastard and the stronger man in the relationship, and the hunky man is the one needing protection.

Charles has just bought a cottage on the lake and he wants to spend a week alone and relaxing. I think Charles has his life a bit too full: a divorce and an ex-wife that wants still to lead his life, even if with good intentions (it happens when your ex-wife is a cop) and a relationship that it’s not going in the direction Charles hoped. Truth be told, Charles is not exactly a perfect man who is suffering from the mistakes of other people, I didn’t always like his attitude: for example with his lover’s son, a kid who is suffering for the divorce of his parents, and also for the new relationship of his father with Charles, something he doesn’t understand since no one cared to explain the situation to him. Charles is not sympathetic, I even felt like he was annoyed.

Both Charles than Kenneth have not an easy relationship with themselves. Charles is still not at ease with being gay, and he almost resents the fact to be too pretty, like it’s a “gay” birthmark; he thinks that Carolyn, his ex-wife, even if she has accepted the reason of their divorce, still doesn’t like for him to be “too” gay, but I think he is reflecting his own perception of the situation: it’s Charles himself that doesn’t want to be labelled “gay” and for this reason he is all right with a relationship with Kenneth, since Kenneth doesn’t seem gay… Being with him, Charles can’t pretend that he is not so gay.

Same reason why he is attracted by Booker, his neighbour: Booker doesn’t seem gay, at first Charles thinks he is straight, but despite this, he is nevertheless attracted by him. When he discovers that Booker is gay, it’s even better: not only Booker doesn’t look gay, he is mainly a bottom in bed, so that Charles is even more reassured in his masculinity. Booker seems really the perfect man, and even his past experience in prison (for marijuana detention) is not something too bothering to Charles’ eyes.

Truth be told, I would have been satisfied with the story like that, the crime subplot regarding Booker and his stalker felt a bit estranged, like something the author needed to add to wrap up the story. It was not bad, even if the unexpected connection between Booker and Charles was a bit too pulled, but in the end it was not what remained of the book in my mind. Probably what was more particular, and interesting, was the atmosphere of the book, there was a stilling sensation, something I associated with the lake and the place; the setting was not an hustle and bustle holiday location, it was more like sleeper little town. Actually the whole neighbouring thing with Charles spying Booker and Booker suddenly appearing, was even a little creepy; in the end the story is more simple than what the growing expectations made you believe, but that was exactly what made the story interesting and original.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=1413814.15459&product_name=Bastards+And+Pretty+Boys&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Bastards And Pretty Boys

Reading List:

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

Bastards and Pretty Boys by K.Z. Snow

It’s not much the story that made an interesting reading of Bastards and Pretty Boys for me, but the characters. First of all, there is a countercurrent development of them, the pretty boy is the bastard and the stronger man in the relationship, and the hunky man is the one needing protection.

Charles has just bought a cottage on the lake and he wants to spend a week alone and relaxing. I think Charles has his life a bit too full: a divorce and an ex-wife that wants still to lead his life, even if with good intentions (it happens when your ex-wife is a cop) and a relationship that it’s not going in the direction Charles hoped. Truth be told, Charles is not exactly a perfect man who is suffering from the mistakes of other people, I didn’t always like his attitude: for example with his lover’s son, a kid who is suffering for the divorce of his parents, and also for the new relationship of his father with Charles, something he doesn’t understand since no one cared to explain the situation to him. Charles is not sympathetic, I even felt like he was annoyed.

Both Charles than Kenneth have not an easy relationship with themselves. Charles is still not at ease with being gay, and he almost resents the fact to be too pretty, like it’s a “gay” birthmark; he thinks that Carolyn, his ex-wife, even if she has accepted the reason of their divorce, still doesn’t like for him to be “too” gay, but I think he is reflecting his own perception of the situation: it’s Charles himself that doesn’t want to be labelled “gay” and for this reason he is all right with a relationship with Kenneth, since Kenneth doesn’t seem gay… Being with him, Charles can’t pretend that he is not so gay.

Same reason why he is attracted by Booker, his neighbour: Booker doesn’t seem gay, at first Charles thinks he is straight, but despite this, he is nevertheless attracted by him. When he discovers that Booker is gay, it’s even better: not only Booker doesn’t look gay, he is mainly a bottom in bed, so that Charles is even more reassured in his masculinity. Booker seems really the perfect man, and even his past experience in prison (for marijuana detention) is not something too bothering to Charles’ eyes.

Truth be told, I would have been satisfied with the story like that, the crime subplot regarding Booker and his stalker felt a bit estranged, like something the author needed to add to wrap up the story. It was not bad, even if the unexpected connection between Booker and Charles was a bit too pulled, but in the end it was not what remained of the book in my mind. Probably what was more particular, and interesting, was the atmosphere of the book, there was a stilling sensation, something I associated with the lake and the place; the setting was not an hustle and bustle holiday location, it was more like sleeper little town. Actually the whole neighbouring thing with Charles spying Booker and Booker suddenly appearing, was even a little creepy; in the end the story is more simple than what the growing expectations made you believe, but that was exactly what made the story interesting and original.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=1413814.15459&product_name=Bastards+And+Pretty+Boys&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Bastards And Pretty Boys

Reading List:

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

Leftovers by Treva Harte

If I had to compare this very nice seasonal romance by Treva Harte to a painting, it would be an impressionist one. Maybe due to the length, a novella, or maybe due to the choice of the author to focus on the present more than the past, we don’t have many details around the characters, but just an impression of who they were and what they now want. And more than a “thanksgiving” romance, this is a forgiving one.

Both Paul than Emerson did wrong in the past, Paul was too young and hot-tempered to realize what he had before losing it, and Emerson had a too low self-esteem to grab for happiness, and to admit that a little fault on him didn’t make him a total loser.

Despite many arguments, tug in and tug off, and great makeover sex, it’s already 8 years that Paul and Emerson are “unofficially” a couple. They met in college, Paul a singer and Emerson a composer, they seemed perfect for each other; but when Paul was ready to spring the wings and fly, Emerson decided to remain grounded. They argued, Paul didn’t ask, and Emerson didn’t offer, and so, year after year, Paul is coming back to Emerson for Thanksgiving, they have great sex and the morning after Paul is gone again. Only that this year both of them want to break the spell and change the course of their life.

Being a romantic as I am, I feel a bit of regret for all the years Paul and Emerson lost, but, after all, it is probably better like that. If they managed to stay together so since moment one, both so young and inexperienced, probably they would have grown tired of each other soon after. In this way instead, both of them regarded their college love affair like the best years of their life and it remained the unfulfilled dream they now, as adults, want to realize. Now both of them are ready to commit, now both of them realized what they lost, and lucky for them, they are still young enough to enjoy their future together.

As for their past history together, also the present is described more through flash of image than a real flow of events. The reader jump from a scene to another like he is shifting in time, and in the space of few pages he spent an year together with Paul and Emerson. Each scene, again, is made more of feelings and sensations than details, cold, warm, fear, love, this is what the reader perceive more than the visual image of the places. It’s quite a strange novella, but very sweet and romantic.

http://www.loose-id.com/Leftovers.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Leftovers

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain

Leftovers by Treva Harte

If I had to compare this very nice seasonal romance by Treva Harte to a painting, it would be an impressionist one. Maybe due to the length, a novella, or maybe due to the choice of the author to focus on the present more than the past, we don’t have many details around the characters, but just an impression of who they were and what they now want. And more than a “thanksgiving” romance, this is a forgiving one.

Both Paul than Emerson did wrong in the past, Paul was too young and hot-tempered to realize what he had before losing it, and Emerson had a too low self-esteem to grab for happiness, and to admit that a little fault on him didn’t make him a total loser.

Despite many arguments, tug in and tug off, and great makeover sex, it’s already 8 years that Paul and Emerson are “unofficially” a couple. They met in college, Paul a singer and Emerson a composer, they seemed perfect for each other; but when Paul was ready to spring the wings and fly, Emerson decided to remain grounded. They argued, Paul didn’t ask, and Emerson didn’t offer, and so, year after year, Paul is coming back to Emerson for Thanksgiving, they have great sex and the morning after Paul is gone again. Only that this year both of them want to break the spell and change the course of their life.

Being a romantic as I am, I feel a bit of regret for all the years Paul and Emerson lost, but, after all, it is probably better like that. If they managed to stay together so since moment one, both so young and inexperienced, probably they would have grown tired of each other soon after. In this way instead, both of them regarded their college love affair like the best years of their life and it remained the unfulfilled dream they now, as adults, want to realize. Now both of them are ready to commit, now both of them realized what they lost, and lucky for them, they are still young enough to enjoy their future together.

As for their past history together, also the present is described more through flash of image than a real flow of events. The reader jump from a scene to another like he is shifting in time, and in the space of few pages he spent an year together with Paul and Emerson. Each scene, again, is made more of feelings and sensations than details, cold, warm, fear, love, this is what the reader perceive more than the visual image of the places. It’s quite a strange novella, but very sweet and romantic.

http://www.loose-id.com/Leftovers.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Leftovers

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Cover Art by Anne Cain