2010-05-04

reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-05-04 12:36 am

Boy Under the Bridge by Eden Winters

I can’t possibly not like this story, since, more or less, I asked for it. Yes, if you will buy it, and will read the dedica, it starts with “For Elisa…” and yes, that is me. When I read The Wish, and I wrote about it, my main worry was that, despite the happily ever after for the couple in that story, Alex, one of them, was really mean with a young boy, barely 21 years old, he met in a nightclub. That boy, James was pretty and cute, but he gave me the idea of not being “strong”, and when Alex kicked him on the curb, after a night of meaningless sex, I wondered where he would go, imagining him starved under a bridge.

And it’s exactly there that Eden Winters decided to put the boy and start his story, or better, to give also to him an happily ever after; while thinking back at the near past, his one night stand with Alex, James also thinks to his long-term relationship with Travis; Travis maybe is not as handsome or rich as Alex, but he is, to James’s eyes, way better. And even if for most part of the short story we don’t have the chance to listen to Travis’s side of the story, if not through the first angry and than worried messages he left on James’s phone, also the reader realizes that James did a big mistake cheating on Travis. But even if I’m all against the cheating, I can’t be hard on James; he and Travis are really young, and at the beginning of their relationship as lover (even if they are friends since years); they need to test it, to compare it with something else, to understand that what they have is precious and they need to treasure it. Eden Winters was really good in bringing me on an emotional level that allows me to care for James instead of accusing him, same emotional predisposition of Travis. Even the "physical" reminders of James's cheating, instead of putting me off, are an element more to understand that Travis really loves James, since he is able to completely forgive his lover.

Even if only a short story, Boy Under the Bridge is a concentrate of 101 course on how to build a long lasting relationship; and in the end, even if James and Travis are young, they arrive to the right conclusion way before of bitter Alex.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=293&products_id=2620

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-05-04 12:36 am

Boy Under the Bridge by Eden Winters

I can’t possibly not like this story, since, more or less, I asked for it. Yes, if you will buy it, and will read the dedica, it starts with “For Elisa…” and yes, that is me. When I read The Wish, and I wrote about it, my main worry was that, despite the happily ever after for the couple in that story, Alex, one of them, was really mean with a young boy, barely 21 years old, he met in a nightclub. That boy, James was pretty and cute, but he gave me the idea of not being “strong”, and when Alex kicked him on the curb, after a night of meaningless sex, I wondered where he would go, imagining him starved under a bridge.

And it’s exactly there that Eden Winters decided to put the boy and start his story, or better, to give also to him an happily ever after; while thinking back at the near past, his one night stand with Alex, James also thinks to his long-term relationship with Travis; Travis maybe is not as handsome or rich as Alex, but he is, to James’s eyes, way better. And even if for most part of the short story we don’t have the chance to listen to Travis’s side of the story, if not through the first angry and than worried messages he left on James’s phone, also the reader realizes that James did a big mistake cheating on Travis. But even if I’m all against the cheating, I can’t be hard on James; he and Travis are really young, and at the beginning of their relationship as lover (even if they are friends since years); they need to test it, to compare it with something else, to understand that what they have is precious and they need to treasure it. Eden Winters was really good in bringing me on an emotional level that allows me to care for James instead of accusing him, same emotional predisposition of Travis. Even the "physical" reminders of James's cheating, instead of putting me off, are an element more to understand that Travis really loves James, since he is able to completely forgive his lover.

Even if only a short story, Boy Under the Bridge is a concentrate of 101 course on how to build a long lasting relationship; and in the end, even if James and Travis are young, they arrive to the right conclusion way before of bitter Alex.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=293&products_id=2620

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-05-04 09:53 am

The Inside Reader: Ally Blue

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell
If not the first, Ally Blue was for sure among the first M/M romance authors I read when I started this adventure (read, my LiveJournal). She was for sure the first "angst" M/M romance author, but don't worry, lately she delivered also some funny romances, though always with a "serious" undertone. Ally Blue has many layers as an author, so I bet you will be glad to have the chance to see also her reader's persona. Welcome Ally!

Ally Blue's Inside Reader List

Hello all, Ally Blue here. I'm excited to be sharing my list of top ten favorite books with Elisa and her readers :D I have to confess that I'm not much of a romance reader, gay or straight. Hell of a thing, right? I mean, I write it, I feel like I ought to read more of it. And I do read it. But my favorite books -- my comfort reads, the books that have affected me strongly one way or another -- have generally been in other genres. Go figure. So here are a few of my particular favorites. There are more, a LOT more, but these are my favorites today :)

1) Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon. I don't remember exactly when I first discovered this book. Ten years ago? Twelve? In any case, the blurb on the back cover intrigued me, so I took it home, and I don't think I did a damn other thing until I'd finished reading it. This book… How to describe it? There's a little bit of everything here. Adventure, comedy, mystery, horror, fantasy, magic, drama, gritty realism, even the very innocent sexuality of a boy on the verge of teenage-hood just beginning to feel sexual urges he doesn't quite have words for or know what to do with (nothing remotely explicit, so no worries about underage sex, y'all!).

This is one of the best books I've ever read, second only to Lord of the Rings to me. I've read it at least ten times, I think. The way McCammon blends the brutally realistic with the fantastical reminds me very much of Pan's Labyrinth, for those of you who've seen that film. Only Boy's Life has a much happier ending *g*


Mass Market Paperback: 608 pages
Publisher: Pocket; First edition (May 1, 1992)
Publisher Link: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Boy's-Life/Robert-McCammon/9780671743055
ISBN-10: 0671743058
ISBN-13: 978-0671743055
Amazon: Boy's Life

In me are the memories of a boy's life, spent in that realm of enchantments. These are the things I want to tell you.... Robert McCammon delivers "a tour de force of storytelling" (BookPage) in his award-winning masterpiece, a novel of Southern boyhood, growing up in the 1960s, that reaches far beyond that evocative landscape to touch readers universally. Boy's Life is a richly imagined, spellbinding portrait of the magical worldview of the young -- and of innocence lost. Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson -- a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him. From an ancient mystic who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown -- for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the balance....

2) Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. My parents gave me the box set of LOTR for Christmas when I was fourteen. I've often wondered if they regretted that, because it set off an obsession that remains to this day. I've read the entire trilogy probably twenty, twenty-five times. When I was younger, I could have told you exactly how all the hobbits were related, and I had all the "after" story in the appendices memorized, though more urgent, everyday things have pushed all that out of my head at this point. Even now, I cannot get through the Gray Havens scene and Frodo's subsequent voyage across the Sundering Seas in the book without crying. Yeah, I'm a sap, so sue me. LOL.

There's a reason why Frodo's character is an archetype in literature. Because this character, this unassuming, regular-person Orphan Who Saves The World, strikes a common chord in us all. I think the reason why Frodo's story is particularly poignant is because he himself doesn't get his happy ending, or at least not the way he expected it. His ending is bittersweet, because, to paraphrase his quote from the book, sometimes someone has to give things up in order to save them, and this time that someone is him. I think that's a message that means more to us as we grow older.


Hardcover: 1214 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co; 1 edition (March 1988)
Publisher Link: http://www.hmhbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=697042
ISBN-10: 0395489326
ISBN-13: 978-0395489321
Amazon: Lord of the Rings

The three volumes that make up Tolkien's epic classic The Lord of the Rings are here presented in their standard cloth editions including large format fold-out maps and an extensive appendices. Set contains The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, with jackets and a box designed by celebrated illustrator Alan Lee.

books from 3 to 10 )

So, there's my list. Hope y'all enjoyed it!

About Ally Blue: Married nearly twenty years, two entirely fabulous children, one entirely fabulous (in a manly way) husband. Been an RN for the last eighteen years. I am originally from the Alabama Gulf Coast, but have lived in the lovely Western North Carolina mountains for over twenty years now, and I love it.

Like so many other female slash writers, I started out by writing fan fiction. Not telling who it involved, as it was real people rather than fictional characters (bad, bad Ally... ). I quickly graduated to original character fiction, and discovered that I liked that even better. It's the hot boy-on-boy action that flips my switch, though, so that's what I still write, for the most part.

My first short story was published in the ezine Forbidden Fruit (go to the links page and check it out!). I have since become a regular contributer to Forbidden Fruit, and have also had short stories published in the erotic ezine Ruthie's Club, as well as a story in the Torquere Press ezine Fresh Off The Vine. My books are available through Loose Id and Samhain Publishing. Check out the "books" link in the menu above for cover art, blurbs, excerpts and purchase info on all my currently available and Coming Soon works.

Adder by Ally Blue
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing; 1 edition (February 2, 2010)
Publisher Link: http://samhainpublishing.com/print/adder-print
ISBN-10: 1605045411
ISBN-13: 978-1605045412
Amazon: Adder

Music. Sex. Fame. What’s missing? Surely not the “L” word…

Adder has a plan for his life: play his music for millions of adoring fans, who will reward him with money, fame and as much sex as he can handle. It’s a goal he’s been working toward since his teens and is on the cusp of achieving. The idea of a relationship never entered his mind—until a new drummer joins his band. One taste of Kalil, and all he wants is more.

For Kalil, playing drums for Adder is a dream come true, the creative connection he’s always wanted. What he never reckoned on is the deeper connection he finds with Adder. Kalil would rather avoid sexual involvement with a bandmate, but Adder seems just as determined to break through his resistance.

Attraction aside, music and sex are about the only things the hedonistic Adder and the increasingly jealous Kalil can agree on. Still, before they know it they’re on the brink of something deeper, something lasting.

And it scares the hell out of both of them.
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-05-04 09:53 am

The Inside Reader: Ally Blue

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell
If not the first, Ally Blue was for sure among the first M/M romance authors I read when I started this adventure (read, my LiveJournal). She was for sure the first "angst" M/M romance author, but don't worry, lately she delivered also some funny romances, though always with a "serious" undertone. Ally Blue has many layers as an author, so I bet you will be glad to have the chance to see also her reader's persona. Welcome Ally!

Ally Blue's Inside Reader List

Hello all, Ally Blue here. I'm excited to be sharing my list of top ten favorite books with Elisa and her readers :D I have to confess that I'm not much of a romance reader, gay or straight. Hell of a thing, right? I mean, I write it, I feel like I ought to read more of it. And I do read it. But my favorite books -- my comfort reads, the books that have affected me strongly one way or another -- have generally been in other genres. Go figure. So here are a few of my particular favorites. There are more, a LOT more, but these are my favorites today :)

1) Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon. I don't remember exactly when I first discovered this book. Ten years ago? Twelve? In any case, the blurb on the back cover intrigued me, so I took it home, and I don't think I did a damn other thing until I'd finished reading it. This book… How to describe it? There's a little bit of everything here. Adventure, comedy, mystery, horror, fantasy, magic, drama, gritty realism, even the very innocent sexuality of a boy on the verge of teenage-hood just beginning to feel sexual urges he doesn't quite have words for or know what to do with (nothing remotely explicit, so no worries about underage sex, y'all!).

This is one of the best books I've ever read, second only to Lord of the Rings to me. I've read it at least ten times, I think. The way McCammon blends the brutally realistic with the fantastical reminds me very much of Pan's Labyrinth, for those of you who've seen that film. Only Boy's Life has a much happier ending *g*


Mass Market Paperback: 608 pages
Publisher: Pocket; First edition (May 1, 1992)
Publisher Link: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Boy's-Life/Robert-McCammon/9780671743055
ISBN-10: 0671743058
ISBN-13: 978-0671743055
Amazon: Boy's Life

In me are the memories of a boy's life, spent in that realm of enchantments. These are the things I want to tell you.... Robert McCammon delivers "a tour de force of storytelling" (BookPage) in his award-winning masterpiece, a novel of Southern boyhood, growing up in the 1960s, that reaches far beyond that evocative landscape to touch readers universally. Boy's Life is a richly imagined, spellbinding portrait of the magical worldview of the young -- and of innocence lost. Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson -- a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him. From an ancient mystic who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown -- for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the balance....

2) Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. My parents gave me the box set of LOTR for Christmas when I was fourteen. I've often wondered if they regretted that, because it set off an obsession that remains to this day. I've read the entire trilogy probably twenty, twenty-five times. When I was younger, I could have told you exactly how all the hobbits were related, and I had all the "after" story in the appendices memorized, though more urgent, everyday things have pushed all that out of my head at this point. Even now, I cannot get through the Gray Havens scene and Frodo's subsequent voyage across the Sundering Seas in the book without crying. Yeah, I'm a sap, so sue me. LOL.

There's a reason why Frodo's character is an archetype in literature. Because this character, this unassuming, regular-person Orphan Who Saves The World, strikes a common chord in us all. I think the reason why Frodo's story is particularly poignant is because he himself doesn't get his happy ending, or at least not the way he expected it. His ending is bittersweet, because, to paraphrase his quote from the book, sometimes someone has to give things up in order to save them, and this time that someone is him. I think that's a message that means more to us as we grow older.


Hardcover: 1214 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co; 1 edition (March 1988)
Publisher Link: http://www.hmhbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=697042
ISBN-10: 0395489326
ISBN-13: 978-0395489321
Amazon: Lord of the Rings

The three volumes that make up Tolkien's epic classic The Lord of the Rings are here presented in their standard cloth editions including large format fold-out maps and an extensive appendices. Set contains The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, with jackets and a box designed by celebrated illustrator Alan Lee.

books from 3 to 10 )

So, there's my list. Hope y'all enjoyed it!

About Ally Blue: Married nearly twenty years, two entirely fabulous children, one entirely fabulous (in a manly way) husband. Been an RN for the last eighteen years. I am originally from the Alabama Gulf Coast, but have lived in the lovely Western North Carolina mountains for over twenty years now, and I love it.

Like so many other female slash writers, I started out by writing fan fiction. Not telling who it involved, as it was real people rather than fictional characters (bad, bad Ally... ). I quickly graduated to original character fiction, and discovered that I liked that even better. It's the hot boy-on-boy action that flips my switch, though, so that's what I still write, for the most part.

My first short story was published in the ezine Forbidden Fruit (go to the links page and check it out!). I have since become a regular contributer to Forbidden Fruit, and have also had short stories published in the erotic ezine Ruthie's Club, as well as a story in the Torquere Press ezine Fresh Off The Vine. My books are available through Loose Id and Samhain Publishing. Check out the "books" link in the menu above for cover art, blurbs, excerpts and purchase info on all my currently available and Coming Soon works.

Adder by Ally Blue
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing; 1 edition (February 2, 2010)
Publisher Link: http://samhainpublishing.com/print/adder-print
ISBN-10: 1605045411
ISBN-13: 978-1605045412
Amazon: Adder

Music. Sex. Fame. What’s missing? Surely not the “L” word…

Adder has a plan for his life: play his music for millions of adoring fans, who will reward him with money, fame and as much sex as he can handle. It’s a goal he’s been working toward since his teens and is on the cusp of achieving. The idea of a relationship never entered his mind—until a new drummer joins his band. One taste of Kalil, and all he wants is more.

For Kalil, playing drums for Adder is a dream come true, the creative connection he’s always wanted. What he never reckoned on is the deeper connection he finds with Adder. Kalil would rather avoid sexual involvement with a bandmate, but Adder seems just as determined to break through his resistance.

Attraction aside, music and sex are about the only things the hedonistic Adder and the increasingly jealous Kalil can agree on. Still, before they know it they’re on the brink of something deeper, something lasting.

And it scares the hell out of both of them.
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-05-04 10:00 pm

Guardian Angel by Sean Michael

Even if the story is the classical plot of the bodyguard who falls in love for the hot singer whose body he has to guard, but not with lust, Guardian Angel is more romantic and less adventurous than expected.

It’s the collection of three novella previously released as a serial, but the combination is not discontinuous, on the contrary, I’m wondering how people was able to wait for the single releases, since the three chapters are pretty much connected, and the timeline is almost without interruption.

The start is abrupt, Rafe is a FBI agent who had the mission to “kidnap” country singer Daniel to take him in a safehouse: a group of religious fanatics want to kill two birds with one stone, do a very demonstrative action, the kidnapping, and maybe convince Daniel to become their public persona. One way or the other, they have not the chance, since Rafe arrives before them and drags Daniel literally away from the stage. At first Daniel is not at all collaborative, but when he understands that Rafe is one of the good guy, and above all that the young agent has also a very personal interest in him, Daniel thinks that maybe he can get something very good out of the situation.

Probably Rafe’s apparently innocent is what it sounded more strange, he was after all an FBI agent, but during the story, we understand that he is probably a rookie, and it’s quite right given that Daniel is not exactly the president, and that after all, the villains seem to be not dangerous. For this reason, when there are the necessary dangerous moments, with gunshots and losses, they seem almost too much in comparison to the erotic romp that Daniel and Rafe are living. True, I’m not exactly the most impartial judge, it’s obvious that I prefer to read of Daniel’s slow seduction of blushing Rafe, and maybe fast skimming through shootings and co.

As always Sean Michael’s style is very clear, fast action, both in than outside the bedroom, clean cut dialogues, and two mainly men who enjoy a down and dirty type of sex, but that don’t disdain cuddling afterward.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2417

Amazon Kindle: Guardian Angel

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
reviews_and_ramblings: (Default)
2010-05-04 10:00 pm

Guardian Angel by Sean Michael

Even if the story is the classical plot of the bodyguard who falls in love for the hot singer whose body he has to guard, but not with lust, Guardian Angel is more romantic and less adventurous than expected.

It’s the collection of three novella previously released as a serial, but the combination is not discontinuous, on the contrary, I’m wondering how people was able to wait for the single releases, since the three chapters are pretty much connected, and the timeline is almost without interruption.

The start is abrupt, Rafe is a FBI agent who had the mission to “kidnap” country singer Daniel to take him in a safehouse: a group of religious fanatics want to kill two birds with one stone, do a very demonstrative action, the kidnapping, and maybe convince Daniel to become their public persona. One way or the other, they have not the chance, since Rafe arrives before them and drags Daniel literally away from the stage. At first Daniel is not at all collaborative, but when he understands that Rafe is one of the good guy, and above all that the young agent has also a very personal interest in him, Daniel thinks that maybe he can get something very good out of the situation.

Probably Rafe’s apparently innocent is what it sounded more strange, he was after all an FBI agent, but during the story, we understand that he is probably a rookie, and it’s quite right given that Daniel is not exactly the president, and that after all, the villains seem to be not dangerous. For this reason, when there are the necessary dangerous moments, with gunshots and losses, they seem almost too much in comparison to the erotic romp that Daniel and Rafe are living. True, I’m not exactly the most impartial judge, it’s obvious that I prefer to read of Daniel’s slow seduction of blushing Rafe, and maybe fast skimming through shootings and co.

As always Sean Michael’s style is very clear, fast action, both in than outside the bedroom, clean cut dialogues, and two mainly men who enjoy a down and dirty type of sex, but that don’t disdain cuddling afterward.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2417

Amazon Kindle: Guardian Angel

Reading List:

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