2010-03-09

reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 01:03 am

Solitude & Sea Glass by T. D. McKinney & Terry Wylis

This is the classical high emotional story, maybe not much realistic, but for sure romantic. Holland is a former baby actor who spent all his childhood and youth in front of a camera. He had not a normal life, and he believed his image was the only thing that counted. Holland was also gay, and he knew that, but gay was not something that matched good with his clean-face image and so he repressed his feelings. Out of his teenager years he had finally the courage to play the role of a gay kid struggling and winning, but the consequences was a mad fan who scarred Holland for life. I don’t know, but maybe that was a sign for Holland that coming out was a mistake, that there was no place in the world for a scarred actor whose only worth was his beauty, or maybe everything was too much for him to bear… Holland decided to retire like an hermit in an Maine island and managed his money from afar.

15 years later Ruby, a young personal assistant is sent to help Holland for the summer. Ruby is interested in the charity foundations Holland can finance, but it doesn’t hurt that he had a crush for the actor when he was a teenager. Only that, the man he finds is not the one he expected. It’s not Ruby, young and penniless, who succumbs to the handsome actor, it’s Holland who is like a virgin maid in front of temptation: not only Holland has had not human touch in 15 years, but he has always denied to himself the man touch he craved. Ruby is young, pretty and like fresh balm on Holland wounds.

Thanks also to a storm that isolates them for some days, Holland and Ruby tighten a bond that is almost visceral, it’s not only love, it’s need: Holland needs Ruby and he is totally open to emotions without any shield. Holland who was so good in hiding his feelings when he was a young man, now as an adult he seems unable to do that. Holland cries, asks for help, pleads for love; and Ruby is there, open arms for him. But the paradise can last only some days, and both Holland than Ruby have to go back to their lives: Ruby the one he left only some months before, Holland to the one he abandoned 15 years before.

At this point the story shift on romance; but you all know that this is not a bad thing for me. Probably the resolution is even too romantic, the acceptance maybe unrealistic, but it’s nice to dream of a perfect ending for a good love story, the type of ending that usually you have for heterosexual romance, and that I hope there will be for same sex relationship.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/SolitudeSeaGlass.html

Amazon: Solitude & Sea Glass

Amazon Kindle: Solitude & Sea Glass

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 01:03 am

Solitude & Sea Glass by T. D. McKinney & Terry Wylis

This is the classical high emotional story, maybe not much realistic, but for sure romantic. Holland is a former baby actor who spent all his childhood and youth in front of a camera. He had not a normal life, and he believed his image was the only thing that counted. Holland was also gay, and he knew that, but gay was not something that matched good with his clean-face image and so he repressed his feelings. Out of his teenager years he had finally the courage to play the role of a gay kid struggling and winning, but the consequences was a mad fan who scarred Holland for life. I don’t know, but maybe that was a sign for Holland that coming out was a mistake, that there was no place in the world for a scarred actor whose only worth was his beauty, or maybe everything was too much for him to bear… Holland decided to retire like an hermit in an Maine island and managed his money from afar.

15 years later Ruby, a young personal assistant is sent to help Holland for the summer. Ruby is interested in the charity foundations Holland can finance, but it doesn’t hurt that he had a crush for the actor when he was a teenager. Only that, the man he finds is not the one he expected. It’s not Ruby, young and penniless, who succumbs to the handsome actor, it’s Holland who is like a virgin maid in front of temptation: not only Holland has had not human touch in 15 years, but he has always denied to himself the man touch he craved. Ruby is young, pretty and like fresh balm on Holland wounds.

Thanks also to a storm that isolates them for some days, Holland and Ruby tighten a bond that is almost visceral, it’s not only love, it’s need: Holland needs Ruby and he is totally open to emotions without any shield. Holland who was so good in hiding his feelings when he was a young man, now as an adult he seems unable to do that. Holland cries, asks for help, pleads for love; and Ruby is there, open arms for him. But the paradise can last only some days, and both Holland than Ruby have to go back to their lives: Ruby the one he left only some months before, Holland to the one he abandoned 15 years before.

At this point the story shift on romance; but you all know that this is not a bad thing for me. Probably the resolution is even too romantic, the acceptance maybe unrealistic, but it’s nice to dream of a perfect ending for a good love story, the type of ending that usually you have for heterosexual romance, and that I hope there will be for same sex relationship.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/SolitudeSeaGlass.html

Amazon: Solitude & Sea Glass

Amazon Kindle: Solitude & Sea Glass

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 09:10 am

Behind the Cover: Richard Newton

Richard Newton, in more than 40 year career of career, has been making illustrations for books, magazines and advertising.

You can view some of his work at richardnewtonstudio.com.

 

more pics ) 
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 09:10 am

Behind the Cover: Richard Newton

Richard Newton, in more than 40 year career of career, has been making illustrations for books, magazines and advertising.

You can view some of his work at richardnewtonstudio.com.

 

more pics ) 
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 09:30 am

Wicked Gentlemen's Ebooks Giveaway

Blind Eye Books, in cooperation with Weightless Books, is pleased to announce their first digital release.

Ginn Hale's award winning novel, Wicked Gentlemen is now available as an ebook for a mere six bucks!

While Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books' publisher, admits that they were all hesitant to enter in to the digital market, they couldn't be more pleased and proud.

To celebrate, Nicole has a couple of free copies to give away! So friends, congrats to her and Ginn in the thread comment and maybe tomorrow you will have a surprise in your mailbox ;-) And don't forget to leave a contact if you don't have a LJ account.

Belimai Sykes is many things: a Prodigal, the descendant of ancient demons, a creature of dark temptations and rare powers. He is also a man with a brutal past and a dangerous addiction. And Belimai Sykes is the only man Captain William Harper can turn to when faced with a series of grisly murders. But Mr. Sykes does not work for free and the price of Belimai's company will cost Captain Harper far more than his reputation. From the ornate mansions of noblemen, where vivisection and sorcery are hidden beneath a veneer of gold, to the steaming slums of Hells Below, Captain Harper must fight for justice and for his life. His enemies are many and his only ally is a devil he knows too well.

http://weightlessbooks.com/format/books/wicked-gentlemen/

Weightless Books is owned by Gavin Grant, who also runs Small Beer Press. His company is the publisher of Poppy Z Brite's, Second Line, which is the third story in her m/m New Orleans series that starts with Liquor and continues in Soul Kitchen.

Drawing List (closed):
1) julia175
2) megleigh
3) erotichorizon
4) lazylfarm
5) gesn
6) egret17
7) nichem
8) pd_singer
9) annesible
10) williammaltese
11) yachay
12) lilygcs
13) angelabenedetti
14) devonrhodes
15) 69512
16) certainlysandy
17) muroku

The winner are: n° 7 [livejournal.com profile] nichem and n° 13 [livejournal.com profile] angelabenedetti
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 09:30 am

Wicked Gentlemen's Ebooks Giveaway

Blind Eye Books, in cooperation with Weightless Books, is pleased to announce their first digital release.

Ginn Hale's award winning novel, Wicked Gentlemen is now available as an ebook for a mere six bucks!

While Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books' publisher, admits that they were all hesitant to enter in to the digital market, they couldn't be more pleased and proud.

To celebrate, Nicole has a couple of free copies to give away! So friends, congrats to her and Ginn in the thread comment and maybe tomorrow you will have a surprise in your mailbox ;-) And don't forget to leave a contact if you don't have a LJ account.

Belimai Sykes is many things: a Prodigal, the descendant of ancient demons, a creature of dark temptations and rare powers. He is also a man with a brutal past and a dangerous addiction. And Belimai Sykes is the only man Captain William Harper can turn to when faced with a series of grisly murders. But Mr. Sykes does not work for free and the price of Belimai's company will cost Captain Harper far more than his reputation. From the ornate mansions of noblemen, where vivisection and sorcery are hidden beneath a veneer of gold, to the steaming slums of Hells Below, Captain Harper must fight for justice and for his life. His enemies are many and his only ally is a devil he knows too well.

http://weightlessbooks.com/format/books/wicked-gentlemen/

Weightless Books is owned by Gavin Grant, who also runs Small Beer Press. His company is the publisher of Poppy Z Brite's, Second Line, which is the third story in her m/m New Orleans series that starts with Liquor and continues in Soul Kitchen.

Drawing List (closed):
1) julia175
2) megleigh
3) erotichorizon
4) lazylfarm
5) gesn
6) egret17
7) nichem
8) pd_singer
9) annesible
10) williammaltese
11) yachay
12) lilygcs
13) angelabenedetti
14) devonrhodes
15) 69512
16) certainlysandy
17) muroku

The winner are: n° 7 [livejournal.com profile] nichem and n° 13 [livejournal.com profile] angelabenedetti
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 09:38 am

The Inside Reader: J.P. Bowie

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell
Jim "J.P." Bowie is one of those authors that is always a pleasure to speak with. I don't know if it's possible only by an email, but I really think to "feel" the English gentleman in him. And then, his glittering past life in the show business, well, it makes him even a more interesting man to talk with. I think Jim's Inside Reader list is a mix of modern and classic, mainstream and romance, in few words, it's all him.

J.P. Bowie's Inside Reader List:

The following list is not in any kind of order—these are books I’ve enjoyed and read more than once. Of course there are many more I could list here. Perhaps another time…


1 & 2) The Geography Club by Brent Hartinger and Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez: I consider both these books to be ‘must reads’ for gay or questioning teens and their parents —and for everyone else as well. The stories follow the lives of gay teens, trying to find their place in the world, bonding with unlikely friends, and coming to terms with their sexuality—in some cases, a slow and painful realization. Both books are beautifully written, and tug at the heartstrings without being overly sentimental.

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen (February 17, 2004)
Publisher Link: http://www.harperteen.com/books/9780060012236/Geography_Club/index.aspx
ISBN-10: 0060012234
ISBN-13: 978-0060012236
Amazon: The Geography Club

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer–playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves? "We just choose a club that's so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!" Brent Hartinger's debut novel is a fast–paced, funny, and trenchant portrait of contemporary teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest club, but who learn plenty about the treacherous social terrain of high school and the even more dangerous landscape of the human heart.

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (May 1, 2003)
Publisher Link: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rainbow-Boys/Alex-Sanchez/9780689857706
ISBN-10: 0689857705
ISBN-13: 978-0689857706
Amazon: Rainbow Boys

Jason Carrillo is a jock with a steady girlfriend, but he can't stop dreaming about sex...with other guys. Kyle Meeks doesn't look gay, but he is. And he hopes he never has to tell anyone -- especially his parents. Nelson Glassman is "out" to the entire world, but he can't tell the boy he loves that he wants to be more than just friends. Three teenage boys, coming of age and out of the closet. In a revealing debut novel that percolates with passion and wit, Alex Sanchez follows these very different high-school seniors as their struggles with sexuality and intolerance draw them into a triangle of love, betrayal, and ultimately, friendship.

books from 3 to 10 )

About J.P. Bowie: J.P. Bowie was born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland. He wrote his first (unpublished) novel – a science fiction tale of brawny men and brawnier women that made him a little suspect in the eyes of his family for a while.

Leaving home at age eighteen for the bright lights of London, he found himself in the midst of a “diverse and creative crowd” that eventually led him to the performing arts. For the next twelve years he sang, danced and acted his way around the theatres of London and the provinces, appearing in shows with many famous British singers, actors and comedians.

After immigrating to the US and living for many years in Las Vegas where he worked for that incomparable duo, Siegfried and Roy, J.P. found himself entranced by the fair city of San Diego where he currently lives with his partner, Phil.

Murder Above Fourth by J.P. Bowie
Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (December 16, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=JPBMAFT1
ISBN-10: 1608201198
ISBN-13: 978-1608201198
Amazon: Murder Above Fourth

Nick Fallon always knew there would be a day of reckoning between himself and Harold Forsythe, a millionaire who headed a secret group paying big bucks to watch young men and women have sex-sometimes dangerous sex, that had resulted in the deaths of two young men. When one of the owners of 'Above Fourth', a popular San Diego nightclub, is needlessly murdered, Nick vows to take Forsythe down, but in his determination to see the man behind bars, Nick throws caution to the wind. In a reckless and ultimately dangerous move, he not only puts his own life in jeopardy, but also the future of his relationship with his lover.
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 09:38 am

The Inside Reader: J.P. Bowie

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell
Jim "J.P." Bowie is one of those authors that is always a pleasure to speak with. I don't know if it's possible only by an email, but I really think to "feel" the English gentleman in him. And then, his glittering past life in the show business, well, it makes him even a more interesting man to talk with. I think Jim's Inside Reader list is a mix of modern and classic, mainstream and romance, in few words, it's all him.

J.P. Bowie's Inside Reader List:

The following list is not in any kind of order—these are books I’ve enjoyed and read more than once. Of course there are many more I could list here. Perhaps another time…


1 & 2) The Geography Club by Brent Hartinger and Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez: I consider both these books to be ‘must reads’ for gay or questioning teens and their parents —and for everyone else as well. The stories follow the lives of gay teens, trying to find their place in the world, bonding with unlikely friends, and coming to terms with their sexuality—in some cases, a slow and painful realization. Both books are beautifully written, and tug at the heartstrings without being overly sentimental.

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen (February 17, 2004)
Publisher Link: http://www.harperteen.com/books/9780060012236/Geography_Club/index.aspx
ISBN-10: 0060012234
ISBN-13: 978-0060012236
Amazon: The Geography Club

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer–playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves? "We just choose a club that's so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!" Brent Hartinger's debut novel is a fast–paced, funny, and trenchant portrait of contemporary teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest club, but who learn plenty about the treacherous social terrain of high school and the even more dangerous landscape of the human heart.

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (May 1, 2003)
Publisher Link: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rainbow-Boys/Alex-Sanchez/9780689857706
ISBN-10: 0689857705
ISBN-13: 978-0689857706
Amazon: Rainbow Boys

Jason Carrillo is a jock with a steady girlfriend, but he can't stop dreaming about sex...with other guys. Kyle Meeks doesn't look gay, but he is. And he hopes he never has to tell anyone -- especially his parents. Nelson Glassman is "out" to the entire world, but he can't tell the boy he loves that he wants to be more than just friends. Three teenage boys, coming of age and out of the closet. In a revealing debut novel that percolates with passion and wit, Alex Sanchez follows these very different high-school seniors as their struggles with sexuality and intolerance draw them into a triangle of love, betrayal, and ultimately, friendship.

books from 3 to 10 )

About J.P. Bowie: J.P. Bowie was born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland. He wrote his first (unpublished) novel – a science fiction tale of brawny men and brawnier women that made him a little suspect in the eyes of his family for a while.

Leaving home at age eighteen for the bright lights of London, he found himself in the midst of a “diverse and creative crowd” that eventually led him to the performing arts. For the next twelve years he sang, danced and acted his way around the theatres of London and the provinces, appearing in shows with many famous British singers, actors and comedians.

After immigrating to the US and living for many years in Las Vegas where he worked for that incomparable duo, Siegfried and Roy, J.P. found himself entranced by the fair city of San Diego where he currently lives with his partner, Phil.

Murder Above Fourth by J.P. Bowie
Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (December 16, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=JPBMAFT1
ISBN-10: 1608201198
ISBN-13: 978-1608201198
Amazon: Murder Above Fourth

Nick Fallon always knew there would be a day of reckoning between himself and Harold Forsythe, a millionaire who headed a secret group paying big bucks to watch young men and women have sex-sometimes dangerous sex, that had resulted in the deaths of two young men. When one of the owners of 'Above Fourth', a popular San Diego nightclub, is needlessly murdered, Nick vows to take Forsythe down, but in his determination to see the man behind bars, Nick throws caution to the wind. In a reckless and ultimately dangerous move, he not only puts his own life in jeopardy, but also the future of his relationship with his lover.
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 12:10 pm

I, Debauchee (“I” series 1) by William Maltese

I admit that I was not yet a M/M romance reader in the ’70s when probably William Maltese wrote the majority of his pulp fiction, those little books you probably could find hidden in some shelves (read The Golden Age of Gay Fiction by Drewey Wayne Gunn for references), and then, even if I was, they are not exactly the type of romance (if they are romances at all), that a young “impressionable” lady would read ;-) Then in the ’80s, William Maltese, alias Willa Lambert, took another path, the Harmony style romances, albeit not so prim and proper as some of those ‘80s romances were, and I think that a bit of that romance got stuck in modern William, and so lately, his novels were indeed more suitable for those “impressionable ladies of above. But naughty William is still there, and it’s clear in every one of his books. But even more in this first book in the “I” series.

Not only the feeling is more of a ‘70s novel than a contemporary one (even if, I believe, nowhere is specified a date): yacht at Cannes, posh hotel in Paris, hunting lodge in Romania, these are all the imaginary setting not only of Maltese “classic” novels, but for example, of other erotic novels of the time, like Emmanuelle, at the time more or less “trashy” books, and now considered erotica mainstream.

In “I, Debauchee”, a family friend (again, as often in William Maltese’s books, the novel is in first point of view, and the narrator has no name) is asked to debauch a virgin boy; the request arrives from the very father of the boy, who fears that his “alternative” and “excessive” lifestyle will run scared the kid if he is not properly introduced. What nor the father or the Narrator know, is that probably Mallory is more than willing to be debauched by the handsome friend of his father, and maybe he even directed things toward that point.

In a way the debauchee becomes the one to debauch, since he ruins the Narrator to other experiences: no one of them is as good as Mallory, and Mallory will prove to be quite selfish in his pleasure, willing to share the Narrator with other men, but only if, in the end, the Narrator will prove to be mainly “his”. Now don’t get me wrong, you will not find here the Harlequin style happily ever after, there is an HEA but it’s more in line with what you would expect to find in the alternative lifestyle of an international jet set. As it’s in line the construction of the story: each single chapter is a new debauching experience for the more than willing debauchee, the timeline is like a perfect clockwork, introduction, execution, climax, from low to high, and then again.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=ISERIES1

Buy Here

Amazon: I, Debauchee

Amazon Kindle: I, Debauchee

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 12:10 pm

I, Debauchee (“I” series 1) by William Maltese

I admit that I was not yet a M/M romance reader in the ’70s when probably William Maltese wrote the majority of his pulp fiction, those little books you probably could find hidden in some shelves (read The Golden Age of Gay Fiction by Drewey Wayne Gunn for references), and then, even if I was, they are not exactly the type of romance (if they are romances at all), that a young “impressionable” lady would read ;-) Then in the ’80s, William Maltese, alias Willa Lambert, took another path, the Harmony style romances, albeit not so prim and proper as some of those ‘80s romances were, and I think that a bit of that romance got stuck in modern William, and so lately, his novels were indeed more suitable for those “impressionable ladies of above. But naughty William is still there, and it’s clear in every one of his books. But even more in this first book in the “I” series.

Not only the feeling is more of a ‘70s novel than a contemporary one (even if, I believe, nowhere is specified a date): yacht at Cannes, posh hotel in Paris, hunting lodge in Romania, these are all the imaginary setting not only of Maltese “classic” novels, but for example, of other erotic novels of the time, like Emmanuelle, at the time more or less “trashy” books, and now considered erotica mainstream.

In “I, Debauchee”, a family friend (again, as often in William Maltese’s books, the novel is in first point of view, and the narrator has no name) is asked to debauch a virgin boy; the request arrives from the very father of the boy, who fears that his “alternative” and “excessive” lifestyle will run scared the kid if he is not properly introduced. What nor the father or the Narrator know, is that probably Mallory is more than willing to be debauched by the handsome friend of his father, and maybe he even directed things toward that point.

In a way the debauchee becomes the one to debauch, since he ruins the Narrator to other experiences: no one of them is as good as Mallory, and Mallory will prove to be quite selfish in his pleasure, willing to share the Narrator with other men, but only if, in the end, the Narrator will prove to be mainly “his”. Now don’t get me wrong, you will not find here the Harlequin style happily ever after, there is an HEA but it’s more in line with what you would expect to find in the alternative lifestyle of an international jet set. As it’s in line the construction of the story: each single chapter is a new debauching experience for the more than willing debauchee, the timeline is like a perfect clockwork, introduction, execution, climax, from low to high, and then again.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=ISERIES1

Buy Here

Amazon: I, Debauchee

Amazon Kindle: I, Debauchee

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 07:15 pm

Violet Tendencies is almost here!

cross posted from: http://jesseonthebrink.blogspot.com/2010/03/party-party-party-three-times-party.html

My friend Jesse was having a night out and of course when he saw that GayLife NYC was at hand, he profits to tell us something more on his upcoming movie, Violet Tendencies (noticed my side menu, yes, yes, Violet Tendencies is one of my adopted movie).

From Jesse's own words: "Gay Life NYC was on hand at VIG 27 lounge to capture some of the Oscar bash action and caught up with me about my Violet Tendencies. You can tell Mike is feeling loosy goosy on camera, and at one point in the night he felt good enough to ask lesbian idol Jenny Shimizu about having sex with Angelina Jolie. "What the hell is this?!" she said and stalked out of the interview. She must be protecting Brad Pitt's honor (?) Jenny didn't make this clip, but maybe I can get it."

reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 07:15 pm

Violet Tendencies is almost here!

cross posted from: http://jesseonthebrink.blogspot.com/2010/03/party-party-party-three-times-party.html

My friend Jesse was having a night out and of course when he saw that GayLife NYC was at hand, he profits to tell us something more on his upcoming movie, Violet Tendencies (noticed my side menu, yes, yes, Violet Tendencies is one of my adopted movie).

From Jesse's own words: "Gay Life NYC was on hand at VIG 27 lounge to capture some of the Oscar bash action and caught up with me about my Violet Tendencies. You can tell Mike is feeling loosy goosy on camera, and at one point in the night he felt good enough to ask lesbian idol Jenny Shimizu about having sex with Angelina Jolie. "What the hell is this?!" she said and stalked out of the interview. She must be protecting Brad Pitt's honor (?) Jenny didn't make this clip, but maybe I can get it."

reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 10:56 pm

The Guardian by Mary Calmes

This is the second book I read by Mary Calmes, and while the first one was good, but maybe I felt still like it was a debut novel, The Guardian feels way more accomplished. As in the previous novel there are strong yaoi influence in the novel, but not the usual seme / uke pair, maybe more that yaoi novels where the innocent young boy discovers that his pet is not exactly what it seems. Only that here, the young boy is not so young, but he still preserves all the physical traits of that pretty boy.

Jude is a successful PR working in marketing, he is very handsome but not in a blatant way, he is the type of man that at first you didn’t look twice, but then he enters under your skin, and before you realize it, you are addicted. It happens so that, when Jude’s boss changes, the new boss is more interested in Jude’s partner, than in him. And Jude, diplomacy is not his strength, decides to dump both lover than job. While he is commiserating himself, he feels the strong need to help a stray dog, a very big stray dog. Everyone seems scared by “Joe”, but not Jude: from the first moment the big dog heralds himself Jude’s guardian and Joe has only two things in mind, protect Jude and avoid that anyone else come near him.

Obviously Joe is not a dog, he is a creature from a fantasy parallel world and his name is Eoin. In his world Eoin is indeed both a Guardian than a beast, he is born as a dog, and was given to a noble family to be raised as the Guardian of the house. He is able to shift between man and dog, but indeed he was raised and he still lives like a dog. He has no family, he was separated from them when he was only few weeks old; then he was trained to be a warrior and to not have a personal interest if not the one of the family that owns him. He is not treated bad, but indeed he is no more than a pet: he is fed and dressed, sometime also petted, but no more than that. Eoin doesn’t know family, and so when he meets Jude, and recognizes in him his cairn, his heart, his mate, Eoin has only one thing in mind, to make him happy, and obviously means for Jude to be with him.

Jude is a nice man, but I think he is also very lucky and sometime unaware of the world. I have the feel that he has not had so many bad experiences in life, and even loosing his boyfriend was not bad after, he was not the right man for him. Jude has a good job, that he likes, a family that love and support him and friends who are willing to deal with him when he is in a swinging mood. Even when he finds himself in a fantasy world, a medieval nightmare for everyone else, he takes it almost like a special holiday, like he is in a themed amusement park. But Eoin doesn’t want him to change, Eoin loves him exactly like that, his oblivious cute little mate.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_191&products_id=1708

Amazon: The Guardian

Amazon Kindle: The Guardian

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-03-09 10:56 pm

The Guardian by Mary Calmes

This is the second book I read by Mary Calmes, and while the first one was good, but maybe I felt still like it was a debut novel, The Guardian feels way more accomplished. As in the previous novel there are strong yaoi influence in the novel, but not the usual seme / uke pair, maybe more that yaoi novels where the innocent young boy discovers that his pet is not exactly what it seems. Only that here, the young boy is not so young, but he still preserves all the physical traits of that pretty boy.

Jude is a successful PR working in marketing, he is very handsome but not in a blatant way, he is the type of man that at first you didn’t look twice, but then he enters under your skin, and before you realize it, you are addicted. It happens so that, when Jude’s boss changes, the new boss is more interested in Jude’s partner, than in him. And Jude, diplomacy is not his strength, decides to dump both lover than job. While he is commiserating himself, he feels the strong need to help a stray dog, a very big stray dog. Everyone seems scared by “Joe”, but not Jude: from the first moment the big dog heralds himself Jude’s guardian and Joe has only two things in mind, protect Jude and avoid that anyone else come near him.

Obviously Joe is not a dog, he is a creature from a fantasy parallel world and his name is Eoin. In his world Eoin is indeed both a Guardian than a beast, he is born as a dog, and was given to a noble family to be raised as the Guardian of the house. He is able to shift between man and dog, but indeed he was raised and he still lives like a dog. He has no family, he was separated from them when he was only few weeks old; then he was trained to be a warrior and to not have a personal interest if not the one of the family that owns him. He is not treated bad, but indeed he is no more than a pet: he is fed and dressed, sometime also petted, but no more than that. Eoin doesn’t know family, and so when he meets Jude, and recognizes in him his cairn, his heart, his mate, Eoin has only one thing in mind, to make him happy, and obviously means for Jude to be with him.

Jude is a nice man, but I think he is also very lucky and sometime unaware of the world. I have the feel that he has not had so many bad experiences in life, and even loosing his boyfriend was not bad after, he was not the right man for him. Jude has a good job, that he likes, a family that love and support him and friends who are willing to deal with him when he is in a swinging mood. Even when he finds himself in a fantasy world, a medieval nightmare for everyone else, he takes it almost like a special holiday, like he is in a themed amusement park. But Eoin doesn’t want him to change, Eoin loves him exactly like that, his oblivious cute little mate.

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Amazon: The Guardian

Amazon Kindle: The Guardian

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Cover Art by Anne Cain