Switching Gears (The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay 3) by Claire Thompson

Of all the Solitary Knights, Jack and Marcos are the two who left that famous night not really having a lost lover in their memory lane to track back. They instead have a common past experience, a man who made them believe in love to then inflict the worst of betrayals, indifference. Not the same man, but the same outcome, Jack and Marcos still believe in love but don’t trust anyone with their heart.

In both of them though the need of love is overwhelming, and they do what they can to quell it: Marcos working part time as a BDSM trainer in a private club, and Jack letting sometime his rage coming out, hurting himself to not hurt someone else. But there is a time when their self-control is not working and it’s when they are together in the same room. After one another of those meetings, Jack searches in the memory for the one man who always was able to calm him down, a Master but not his Master: Alexei is now more than 70 years old, and in a long term relationship with another man, but he still cares for Jack and he will be indeed the man that will give Jack the right answer, even if a bit unwillingly.

In the previous two stories in this series, two men met love when they were too young to understand what it meant, and they lost it; they were given a second chance and they took it. In this story, nor Jack or Marcos had indeed met their real love, more than the man, they “met” the lifestyle, but nevertheless, they were too young and not ready for it. Jack’s answer was to refuse it at all, Marcos to approach it without heart, being a Master for everyone but not for himself. In a way, also Jack and Marcos are searching the memory lane for a lost love, but in this case it’s a relationship, not a man: they are searching again for that perfect BDSM relationship they tasted but not obtained, only that now maybe they will try it with the right partner, savvier of their past bad experiences.

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon Kindle: Switching Gears (The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay)

Series: The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay
1) Finding Chandler: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/912143.html
2) A Test of Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/958987.html
3) Switching Gears

Reading List:

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

Switching Gears (The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay 3) by Claire Thompson

Of all the Solitary Knights, Jack and Marcos are the two who left that famous night not really having a lost lover in their memory lane to track back. They instead have a common past experience, a man who made them believe in love to then inflict the worst of betrayals, indifference. Not the same man, but the same outcome, Jack and Marcos still believe in love but don’t trust anyone with their heart.

In both of them though the need of love is overwhelming, and they do what they can to quell it: Marcos working part time as a BDSM trainer in a private club, and Jack letting sometime his rage coming out, hurting himself to not hurt someone else. But there is a time when their self-control is not working and it’s when they are together in the same room. After one another of those meetings, Jack searches in the memory for the one man who always was able to calm him down, a Master but not his Master: Alexei is now more than 70 years old, and in a long term relationship with another man, but he still cares for Jack and he will be indeed the man that will give Jack the right answer, even if a bit unwillingly.

In the previous two stories in this series, two men met love when they were too young to understand what it meant, and they lost it; they were given a second chance and they took it. In this story, nor Jack or Marcos had indeed met their real love, more than the man, they “met” the lifestyle, but nevertheless, they were too young and not ready for it. Jack’s answer was to refuse it at all, Marcos to approach it without heart, being a Master for everyone but not for himself. In a way, also Jack and Marcos are searching the memory lane for a lost love, but in this case it’s a relationship, not a man: they are searching again for that perfect BDSM relationship they tasted but not obtained, only that now maybe they will try it with the right partner, savvier of their past bad experiences.

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon Kindle: Switching Gears (The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay)

Series: The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay
1) Finding Chandler: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/912143.html
2) A Test of Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/958987.html
3) Switching Gears

Reading List:

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

Enraptured (Kaldor Saga 1) by Scarlet Hyacinth

First of all, big warning: if you don't like a chick with masculine "characteristics" (don't let me go into details), you will not like this book. I think we have to be quite sincere, there are books written by men for men AND women, there are books written by women for women AND men, and then there are books written by men FOR men and by women FOR women. It's not impossible that men could enjoy romance only for women, I know there are out there men who read, for example, Danielle Steel, and more recently, Suzanne Brockmann. But they are aware that they are entering an exclusive playfield, a playfield that is open to special admission nevertheless.

Enraptured is a romance by women for women. It's a man on man story, but the I would not say that it's gay. True, being setting in a futuristic world where "homosexuality" is not more an issue, there is not even the smallest problem for the "all male" nature of the characters. More, being an inter-breed story, between Demons and genetically modified Humans, the issue is more the difference in race than the same-sex relationship. To add spicy to the thing, the Demons are an all male breed, their women all died for a virus centuries before, and they naturally modified their genetics to be able to reproduce between males. So yes, there is male pregnancy in there, and that is another plus factor for the submissive male to be more a chick than a rooster.

Said all that, it's a good romance? IF you try to read it knowing the purpose for which it was written, then yes: Enraptured is a funny romp, the futuristic setting is light and easy and the story didn't fall in the overadorned style that usually these stories have. The futuristic world is very much like a medieval "romance" setting, not the real Middle Ages, but more the fictional rendering that you often find in a romance novel; the plot is classic, the bastard son of a king raised in a monastery and subject to the lascivious attention of a villain, a powerful mage. Just when the evil father promised the innocent son to the villain for a much abhorred mating, an handsome stranger prince comes to the rescue of the "damsel" in distress. Only that the prince is not exactly a "prince charming", but more a demon with black leathery wings.

Where is the originality of the story? I think it's in the lightness, all events, even when dramatic, are more funny than angst. This is more a sexy romp than a sci-fiction novel. There are also a lot of kind homages to similar fiction out there: the human princes have long and colorful hair, they have to be virgin till they come to age, and so on.

So yes, if read with the right perspective, this debut novel by Scarlet Hyacinth is very nice, and I think I will read also the following books in the saga.

http://www.bookstrand.com/enraptured

Amazon: Enraptured [Kaldor Saga] (Siren Publishing Classic Man Love)

Reading List:

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

Enraptured (Kaldor Saga 1) by Scarlet Hyacinth

First of all, big warning: if you don't like a chick with masculine "characteristics" (don't let me go into details), you will not like this book. I think we have to be quite sincere, there are books written by men for men AND women, there are books written by women for women AND men, and then there are books written by men FOR men and by women FOR women. It's not impossible that men could enjoy romance only for women, I know there are out there men who read, for example, Danielle Steel, and more recently, Suzanne Brockmann. But they are aware that they are entering an exclusive playfield, a playfield that is open to special admission nevertheless.

Enraptured is a romance by women for women. It's a man on man story, but the I would not say that it's gay. True, being setting in a futuristic world where "homosexuality" is not more an issue, there is not even the smallest problem for the "all male" nature of the characters. More, being an inter-breed story, between Demons and genetically modified Humans, the issue is more the difference in race than the same-sex relationship. To add spicy to the thing, the Demons are an all male breed, their women all died for a virus centuries before, and they naturally modified their genetics to be able to reproduce between males. So yes, there is male pregnancy in there, and that is another plus factor for the submissive male to be more a chick than a rooster.

Said all that, it's a good romance? IF you try to read it knowing the purpose for which it was written, then yes: Enraptured is a funny romp, the futuristic setting is light and easy and the story didn't fall in the overadorned style that usually these stories have. The futuristic world is very much like a medieval "romance" setting, not the real Middle Ages, but more the fictional rendering that you often find in a romance novel; the plot is classic, the bastard son of a king raised in a monastery and subject to the lascivious attention of a villain, a powerful mage. Just when the evil father promised the innocent son to the villain for a much abhorred mating, an handsome stranger prince comes to the rescue of the "damsel" in distress. Only that the prince is not exactly a "prince charming", but more a demon with black leathery wings.

Where is the originality of the story? I think it's in the lightness, all events, even when dramatic, are more funny than angst. This is more a sexy romp than a sci-fiction novel. There are also a lot of kind homages to similar fiction out there: the human princes have long and colorful hair, they have to be virgin till they come to age, and so on.

So yes, if read with the right perspective, this debut novel by Scarlet Hyacinth is very nice, and I think I will read also the following books in the saga.

http://www.bookstrand.com/enraptured

Amazon: Enraptured [Kaldor Saga] (Siren Publishing Classic Man Love)

Reading List:

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

The Inside Reader: Sarah Black

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell

When I approached the Gay Romance genre, there were not so many authors around, and Sarah Black was one of them. She was "different" from her fellow authors since her stories were not "simple", most of the time very dramatic, and not that type of drama that finds an happily ever after resolution at the end of the book to alleviate the heartache of the reader. But her stories were true, and so difficult to forget. Lately she seems to have take a break, but she is ready to come back now. So welcome to Sarah Black!

Sarah Black's Inside Reader List

Some of my favorite reads from the American West

When I first moved out west, I spent some time roaming around in the borderlands with Mexico, and I lived six years on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. The last few years I´ve been in the Northern Rockies. Whenever I move to a new place, I always read as much of the regional literature as I can get my hands on, to really get a feel for the places. I especially love these writers and books from the American West:

From the Borderlands

1) Dagoberto Gilb, Woodcuts of Women, The Magic of Blood, The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna. I am a huge fan of his writing. He writes with such strong and original voices.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (June 4, 1994)
Publisher Link: http://www.groveatlantic.com/#page=isbn9780802133991%20
ISBN-10: 0802133991
ISBN-13: 978-0802133991
Amazon: The Magic of Blood

Dagoberto Gilb is a powerful and important new talent in American fiction. Fresh, funny, relentless, beautifully crafted, his writing possesses that rare Chekhovian ability to perfectly capture the nuances of ordinary life—and make it resonate with unexpected meaning. The Magic of Blood is his unforgettable first book.

2) Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands. Smart and tough and beautiful. An original warrior princess.

Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Aunt Lute Books; 2 edition (May 15, 1999)
Publisher Link: http://www.auntlute.com/borderlands_lafrontera.htm
ISBN-10: 1879960567
ISBN-13: 978-1879960565
Amazon: Borderlands

Chosen one of the "Best Books of 1987" by Library Journal. Selected by Utne Reader as part of its “Alternative Canon” in 1998. One of Hungry Mind Review's "Best 100 Books of the 20th Century". Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa’s experience as a Chicana, a lesbian, an activist, and a writer, the groundbreaking essays and poems in this volume profoundly challenge how we think about identity. Borderlands/La Frontera remaps understandings of what a “border” is, seeing it not as a simple divide between here and there, us and them, but as a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us. New to this edition: Includes an Introduction by Sonia Saldívar-Hull; an interview with Gloria Anzaldúa; and contributions by Norma Alarcón, Julia Alvarez, Paola Bacchetta, Rusty Barcelo, Norma Elia Cantú, Sandra Cisneros, T. Jackie Cuevas, Claire Joysmith, and AnaLouise Keating.

( books from 3 to 10 )

About Sarah Black: Sarah likes to drive around on empty, red-dirt roads on the Navajo reservation in a beat-up blue Ford Ranger pickup. Unfortunately, she still doesn't know how to change a flat tire.

Every Christmas, Sarah tries to make her grandmother's fudge recipe, the one on the back of the Hershey's cocoa box. So far no luck. This year she's going to break down and buy a candy thermometer.

Sarah has a secret addiction to reading books from Mother Earth News about building your own house. Right now she is reading about Cordwood and Cob.

Sarah will use any excuse to buy cashmere sweaters from Land's End. She has even been known to do it without an excuse

When she was young, Sarah wanted to marry Barnabas Collins, the vampire from Dark Shadows

Life goal: To visit all of America's National Parks

Sarah has lived in: California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, and Alaska. Also Italy, and one year in the Persian Gulf on the Hospital Ship USNS Comfort.

First pet: Janet, a red-eared turtle the size of a quarter. During a hurricane evacuation in 1968, Sarah's father carried Janet in his pocket wrapped in a damp washcloth, inside a plastic bag.

Sarah has a secret crush on Brett Favre, and believes that he redeems the sins of the rest of the NFL. He is one of the few remaining quarterbacks playing who is not young enough to be her son.

When she can't sleep, Sarah gets up and reads a random selection from the Oxford English Dictionary. Sometimes those words show up in her stories.

Footsteps in the Dark, Partners in Crime #3, by Josh Lanyon & Sarah Black
Paperback: 236 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (June 26, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=PIC00003
ISBN-10: 1934531154
ISBN-13: 978-1934531150
Amazon: Footsteps in the Dark

Murder At Black Dog Springs: Code-talker Logan Kee returns to his home on the Navajo Reservation from the battlefields of Saipan. But a new battle is waiting for him. Uranium mining has begun within the four sacred mountains. When the old hand-trembler dies at Black Dog Springs, rumors fly that Leetso, the yellow monster, has been set free to walk the land.

The Inside Reader: Sarah Black

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell

When I approached the Gay Romance genre, there were not so many authors around, and Sarah Black was one of them. She was "different" from her fellow authors since her stories were not "simple", most of the time very dramatic, and not that type of drama that finds an happily ever after resolution at the end of the book to alleviate the heartache of the reader. But her stories were true, and so difficult to forget. Lately she seems to have take a break, but she is ready to come back now. So welcome to Sarah Black!

Sarah Black's Inside Reader List

Some of my favorite reads from the American West

When I first moved out west, I spent some time roaming around in the borderlands with Mexico, and I lived six years on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. The last few years I´ve been in the Northern Rockies. Whenever I move to a new place, I always read as much of the regional literature as I can get my hands on, to really get a feel for the places. I especially love these writers and books from the American West:

From the Borderlands

1) Dagoberto Gilb, Woodcuts of Women, The Magic of Blood, The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna. I am a huge fan of his writing. He writes with such strong and original voices.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (June 4, 1994)
Publisher Link: http://www.groveatlantic.com/#page=isbn9780802133991%20
ISBN-10: 0802133991
ISBN-13: 978-0802133991
Amazon: The Magic of Blood

Dagoberto Gilb is a powerful and important new talent in American fiction. Fresh, funny, relentless, beautifully crafted, his writing possesses that rare Chekhovian ability to perfectly capture the nuances of ordinary life—and make it resonate with unexpected meaning. The Magic of Blood is his unforgettable first book.

2) Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands. Smart and tough and beautiful. An original warrior princess.

Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Aunt Lute Books; 2 edition (May 15, 1999)
Publisher Link: http://www.auntlute.com/borderlands_lafrontera.htm
ISBN-10: 1879960567
ISBN-13: 978-1879960565
Amazon: Borderlands

Chosen one of the "Best Books of 1987" by Library Journal. Selected by Utne Reader as part of its “Alternative Canon” in 1998. One of Hungry Mind Review's "Best 100 Books of the 20th Century". Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa’s experience as a Chicana, a lesbian, an activist, and a writer, the groundbreaking essays and poems in this volume profoundly challenge how we think about identity. Borderlands/La Frontera remaps understandings of what a “border” is, seeing it not as a simple divide between here and there, us and them, but as a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us. New to this edition: Includes an Introduction by Sonia Saldívar-Hull; an interview with Gloria Anzaldúa; and contributions by Norma Alarcón, Julia Alvarez, Paola Bacchetta, Rusty Barcelo, Norma Elia Cantú, Sandra Cisneros, T. Jackie Cuevas, Claire Joysmith, and AnaLouise Keating.

( books from 3 to 10 )

About Sarah Black: Sarah likes to drive around on empty, red-dirt roads on the Navajo reservation in a beat-up blue Ford Ranger pickup. Unfortunately, she still doesn't know how to change a flat tire.

Every Christmas, Sarah tries to make her grandmother's fudge recipe, the one on the back of the Hershey's cocoa box. So far no luck. This year she's going to break down and buy a candy thermometer.

Sarah has a secret addiction to reading books from Mother Earth News about building your own house. Right now she is reading about Cordwood and Cob.

Sarah will use any excuse to buy cashmere sweaters from Land's End. She has even been known to do it without an excuse

When she was young, Sarah wanted to marry Barnabas Collins, the vampire from Dark Shadows

Life goal: To visit all of America's National Parks

Sarah has lived in: California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, and Alaska. Also Italy, and one year in the Persian Gulf on the Hospital Ship USNS Comfort.

First pet: Janet, a red-eared turtle the size of a quarter. During a hurricane evacuation in 1968, Sarah's father carried Janet in his pocket wrapped in a damp washcloth, inside a plastic bag.

Sarah has a secret crush on Brett Favre, and believes that he redeems the sins of the rest of the NFL. He is one of the few remaining quarterbacks playing who is not young enough to be her son.

When she can't sleep, Sarah gets up and reads a random selection from the Oxford English Dictionary. Sometimes those words show up in her stories.

Footsteps in the Dark, Partners in Crime #3, by Josh Lanyon & Sarah Black
Paperback: 236 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (June 26, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=PIC00003
ISBN-10: 1934531154
ISBN-13: 978-1934531150
Amazon: Footsteps in the Dark

Murder At Black Dog Springs: Code-talker Logan Kee returns to his home on the Navajo Reservation from the battlefields of Saipan. But a new battle is waiting for him. Uranium mining has begun within the four sacred mountains. When the old hand-trembler dies at Black Dog Springs, rumors fly that Leetso, the yellow monster, has been set free to walk the land.