From Thirty Days to Forever by Shayla Kersten

Thirty Days by Shayla Kersten

Biton is a dom who lost his slave, Erik. Erik was is only partner for the last ten years, and they love each other, but cancer took Erik from Biton. Now Biton aches for another partner, another sub.

Cavan is a slave abused by his former master. He didn't choose to be gay or to be a slave, he was sold to his master when he was sixteen years old. Now he only knows the lifestyle of a slave and only wants a master.

Biton is willing to be the Cavan's master but only if it is a choice of Cavan, and before Cavan can make a choice, he must heal his wounded soul.

This is an heartbreaking story who hold you from beginning. When step by step you learn the life of Cavan, you want to help him and Biton is a wonderful person who choose to abandon his former behaviur of master to help Cavan to heal. But Cavan love so much Biton and finally the decision will be his.

If you don't like the D/S story, this is a little hard to appreciate; but it is also a tender story, with two beautiful characters.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=5480918.86665&product_name=Thirty+Days&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Forever by Shayla Kersten

Forever is the sequel of Thirty Days, a story I have loved very much and maybe one of the first D/S story I have read. Cavan is an abused child sold like sex slave to an evil Master who, after beating him nearly to death, has abandoned him. But Cavan, even if he is free now, is not able to live a normal life, and Biton, an older man who has lost his former lover, takes pity on him and offers him an home and a Thirty Days D/S contract. This is more or less the previous story and now months are passed from the finish of the Thirty Days period but Biton has not yet written another contract, even if has promised to Cavan that their relationship is Forever.

But Cavan is still very fragile and even a piece of paper could make him feel better. He is like a child who needs boundaries to know what is good and what is bad. But not physical boundaries, but more those which you give with love: when you love someone you know what is good or bad cause you know what will make happy or upset your beloved. And so Biton tries to give Cavan all the love he needs, and on the same time, give him enough freedom to take his own decision.

I like very much both Biton than Cavan. They are a whole together, and between them I only feel easyness and a total comprehension, even without words.

Forever, like Thirty Days, is a tale that deal with arguments like D/S role play, but it manages to make it an intimate matter between the two main characters, and not something to be shown outside their home. And this is the reason why I like it a lot.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=5480918.86665&product_name=Forever&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Amazon: From Thirty Days to Forever
Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (February 3, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1456592351
ISBN-13: 978-1456592356

Reading List:

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




Cover Art by April Martinez

Lynx by Joely Skye

As the author herself tells in a note, it was not easy to write Trey’s story; this werewolf is in almost all, if not all the books Joely Skye wrote, even with her pseudo Jorrie Spencer (for het romance). Trey is always the baddest wolf around, the one who everyone fears, the big bad wolf who comes in town, resolves your trouble and then walks alone in the horizon. He has no private life, even if he has a family; he seems always detached, as if he was physically here but mentally he was somewhere else.

When Trey stumbles upon Jonah, a shifter lynx who is living like an hermit in a secluded place in Canada, it seems clear who is the alpha: Trey is older, 40 years old against Jonah’s 24 years old, he is experienced and supposedly in control; Jonah needs direction, above all from someone with experience in being a shifter, since Jonah was like a freak in his family, his mother carrying the shifter gene, but not being a shifter. No one has ever taught Jonah how to be a shapeshifter, and when he lost his mother and brother at brief distance, Jonah remained really alone. When Trey comes around, Jonah sees him like an anchor to sanity, a way to not going feral; and I think that Trey sees Jonah like a way to redeem himself, someone blank whom can be taught to be an happier shifter than him.

The first part of the book is almost idyllic, real life doesn’t touch them, and they can plant the seeds of a long-lasting relationship. But then real life brings Trey far from Jonah, and Trey does also a big mistake: he doesn’t understand that the months he spent with Jonah taught to the young guy that his isolated cabin in the wood can be lonely. Trey stays away too long and Jonah decides to leave his safe shelter; even if it can be seen as an hazard move, Jonah is proving that he is stronger than Trey. Jonah has the courage to admit that his previous life has no more a meaning without Trey, something that maybe Trey is not ready to do. Jonah risks everything he has for the love of Trey.

The experience will change both men, and there will be a change also in the balance between them: even if younger, even if less experience, Jonah will prove that he can be the one able to take the right decision for the good of the couple; in the span of 1 year and half, Jonah will cancel 16 years of age difference. I think that, if the author will decide to write something more about this couple, we will see that Jonah will acquire more and more self-esteem, to in the end, become the real alpha of the story.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/lynx

Amazon: Lynx
Amazon Kindle: Lynx
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (February 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1609280156
ISBN-13: 978-1609280154

Series:
1) The Strength of the Pack by Jorrie Spencer
2) The Strength of the Wolf by Jorrie Spencer
3) Marked by Joely Skye: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/199444.html
4) Puma by Jorrie Spencer
5) Feral by Joely Skye: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/639106.html
6) Lynx by Joely Skye

Reading List:

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

From Thirty Days to Forever by Shayla Kersten

Thirty Days by Shayla Kersten

Biton is a dom who lost his slave, Erik. Erik was is only partner for the last ten years, and they love each other, but cancer took Erik from Biton. Now Biton aches for another partner, another sub.

Cavan is a slave abused by his former master. He didn't choose to be gay or to be a slave, he was sold to his master when he was sixteen years old. Now he only knows the lifestyle of a slave and only wants a master.

Biton is willing to be the Cavan's master but only if it is a choice of Cavan, and before Cavan can make a choice, he must heal his wounded soul.

This is an heartbreaking story who hold you from beginning. When step by step you learn the life of Cavan, you want to help him and Biton is a wonderful person who choose to abandon his former behaviur of master to help Cavan to heal. But Cavan love so much Biton and finally the decision will be his.

If you don't like the D/S story, this is a little hard to appreciate; but it is also a tender story, with two beautiful characters.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=5480918.86665&product_name=Thirty+Days&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Forever by Shayla Kersten

Forever is the sequel of Thirty Days, a story I have loved very much and maybe one of the first D/S story I have read. Cavan is an abused child sold like sex slave to an evil Master who, after beating him nearly to death, has abandoned him. But Cavan, even if he is free now, is not able to live a normal life, and Biton, an older man who has lost his former lover, takes pity on him and offers him an home and a Thirty Days D/S contract. This is more or less the previous story and now months are passed from the finish of the Thirty Days period but Biton has not yet written another contract, even if has promised to Cavan that their relationship is Forever.

But Cavan is still very fragile and even a piece of paper could make him feel better. He is like a child who needs boundaries to know what is good and what is bad. But not physical boundaries, but more those which you give with love: when you love someone you know what is good or bad cause you know what will make happy or upset your beloved. And so Biton tries to give Cavan all the love he needs, and on the same time, give him enough freedom to take his own decision.

I like very much both Biton than Cavan. They are a whole together, and between them I only feel easyness and a total comprehension, even without words.

Forever, like Thirty Days, is a tale that deal with arguments like D/S role play, but it manages to make it an intimate matter between the two main characters, and not something to be shown outside their home. And this is the reason why I like it a lot.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=5480918.86665&product_name=Forever&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Amazon: From Thirty Days to Forever
Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (February 3, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1456592351
ISBN-13: 978-1456592356

Reading List:

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




Cover Art by April Martinez

Lynx by Joely Skye

As the author herself tells in a note, it was not easy to write Trey’s story; this werewolf is in almost all, if not all the books Joely Skye wrote, even with her pseudo Jorrie Spencer (for het romance). Trey is always the baddest wolf around, the one who everyone fears, the big bad wolf who comes in town, resolves your trouble and then walks alone in the horizon. He has no private life, even if he has a family; he seems always detached, as if he was physically here but mentally he was somewhere else.

When Trey stumbles upon Jonah, a shifter lynx who is living like an hermit in a secluded place in Canada, it seems clear who is the alpha: Trey is older, 40 years old against Jonah’s 24 years old, he is experienced and supposedly in control; Jonah needs direction, above all from someone with experience in being a shifter, since Jonah was like a freak in his family, his mother carrying the shifter gene, but not being a shifter. No one has ever taught Jonah how to be a shapeshifter, and when he lost his mother and brother at brief distance, Jonah remained really alone. When Trey comes around, Jonah sees him like an anchor to sanity, a way to not going feral; and I think that Trey sees Jonah like a way to redeem himself, someone blank whom can be taught to be an happier shifter than him.

The first part of the book is almost idyllic, real life doesn’t touch them, and they can plant the seeds of a long-lasting relationship. But then real life brings Trey far from Jonah, and Trey does also a big mistake: he doesn’t understand that the months he spent with Jonah taught to the young guy that his isolated cabin in the wood can be lonely. Trey stays away too long and Jonah decides to leave his safe shelter; even if it can be seen as an hazard move, Jonah is proving that he is stronger than Trey. Jonah has the courage to admit that his previous life has no more a meaning without Trey, something that maybe Trey is not ready to do. Jonah risks everything he has for the love of Trey.

The experience will change both men, and there will be a change also in the balance between them: even if younger, even if less experience, Jonah will prove that he can be the one able to take the right decision for the good of the couple; in the span of 1 year and half, Jonah will cancel 16 years of age difference. I think that, if the author will decide to write something more about this couple, we will see that Jonah will acquire more and more self-esteem, to in the end, become the real alpha of the story.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/lynx

Amazon: Lynx
Amazon Kindle: Lynx
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (February 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1609280156
ISBN-13: 978-1609280154

Series:
1) The Strength of the Pack by Jorrie Spencer
2) The Strength of the Wolf by Jorrie Spencer
3) Marked by Joely Skye: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/199444.html
4) Puma by Jorrie Spencer
5) Feral by Joely Skye: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/639106.html
6) Lynx by Joely Skye

Reading List:

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

Best Gay Themed Movies Poll

In the last 2 weeks I launched some polls on gay themed movies. We first voted for gay themed movies in general, and then we focused in 3 genres, Comedy, Drama and Romance. I'm glad to post the result of these polls and my idea is to make this an yearly appointment, that I'm sure many of my friends will like. Many of the movies were already featured in this journal, and so after the title you can find the link to the specific post.

Best Gay Drama Movie
 
1) Shelter (2007) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/342302.html)

When his college dreams are sidelined by family obligations, a young man finds comfort in surfing with his best friend's brother.

Director: Jonah Markowitz
Writer: Jonah Markowitz
Stars:Trevor Wright, Brad Rowe and Tina Holmes
Amazon: Shelter (2007)

2) Maurice (1987) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1011157.html)  
 
Two male English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society...

Director: James Ivory
Writers: E.M. Forster (from the novel by), Kit Hesketh-Harvey (screenplay)
Stars:James Wilby, Rupert Graves and Hugh Grant
Amazon: Maurice (1987)

3) A Single Man (2009)

A story that centers on an English professor who, one year after the sudden death of his partner, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960's Los Angeles.

Director: Tom Ford
Writers: Tom Ford (written for the screen by), David Scearce (written for the screen by)
Stars:Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode
Amazon: A Single Man (2009)

( Read more... )

Best Gay Comedy Movie

1) Latter Days (2003) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/352434.html)  

A promiscuous gay party animal falls for a young Mormon missionary, leading to crisis, cliché, and catastrophe.

Director: C. Jay Cox
Writer: C. Jay Cox
Stars:Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Mary Kay Place
Amazon: Latter Days (2003)

2) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1146472.html)  

A newly engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

Director: Jim Sharman
Writers: Richard O'Brien (original musical play), Jim Sharman (screenplay)
Stars:Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick
Amazon: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

3) My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

An ambitious Asian Briton and his white lover strive for success and hope, when they open up a glamorous laundromat.

Director: Stephen Frears
Writer: Hanif Kureishi
Stars:Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Daniel Day-Lewis
Amazon: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

( Read more... )

Best Gay Romance Movie

1) Brokeback Mountain (2005)

The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys and their lives over the years.

Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Annie Proulx (short story), Larry McMurtry (screenplay)
Stars:Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams
Amazon: Brokeback Mountain (2005)

2) Just a Question of Love (Juste une question d'amour) (2000) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/501672.html)  

After his gay cousin dies from hepatitis, young Laurent, who lives with his best friend Carole, falls in love with Cedric, a plant scientist. He's afraid to inform his conservative parents that he is gay.

Director: Christian Faure
Writers: Christian Faure (adaptation), Annick Larboulette (head writer)
Stars:Cyrille Thouvenin, Stéphan Guérin-Tillié and Eva Darlan
Amazon: Just a Question of Love (Juste une question d'amour) (2000)

3) Beautiful Thing (1996) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/495221.html)  

In a suburb of London, young Jamie is escaping sport hours, to avoid being the victim of his comrades. Young Ste, his neighbor, is beaten by his father, and comes to sleep overnight. They discover new feelings, sleeping in the same bed.

Director: Hettie Macdonald
Writers: Jonathan Harvey, Jonathan Harvey (play)
Stars:Glen Berry, Linda Henry and Meera Syal
Amazon: Beautiful Thing (1996)

( Read more... )

( For your reference (and further browsing) here is the general list, in voting order )

Best Gay Themed Movies Poll

In the last 2 weeks I launched some polls on gay themed movies. We first voted for gay themed movies in general, and then we focused in 3 genres, Comedy, Drama and Romance. I'm glad to post the result of these polls and my idea is to make this an yearly appointment, that I'm sure many of my friends will like. Many of the movies were already featured in this journal, and so after the title you can find the link to the specific post.

Best Gay Drama Movie
 
1) Shelter (2007) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/342302.html)

When his college dreams are sidelined by family obligations, a young man finds comfort in surfing with his best friend's brother.

Director: Jonah Markowitz
Writer: Jonah Markowitz
Stars:Trevor Wright, Brad Rowe and Tina Holmes
Amazon: Shelter (2007)

2) Maurice (1987) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1011157.html)  
 
Two male English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society...

Director: James Ivory
Writers: E.M. Forster (from the novel by), Kit Hesketh-Harvey (screenplay)
Stars:James Wilby, Rupert Graves and Hugh Grant
Amazon: Maurice (1987)

3) A Single Man (2009)

A story that centers on an English professor who, one year after the sudden death of his partner, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960's Los Angeles.

Director: Tom Ford
Writers: Tom Ford (written for the screen by), David Scearce (written for the screen by)
Stars:Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode
Amazon: A Single Man (2009)

( Read more... )

Best Gay Comedy Movie

1) Latter Days (2003) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/352434.html)  

A promiscuous gay party animal falls for a young Mormon missionary, leading to crisis, cliché, and catastrophe.

Director: C. Jay Cox
Writer: C. Jay Cox
Stars:Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Mary Kay Place
Amazon: Latter Days (2003)

2) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1146472.html)  

A newly engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

Director: Jim Sharman
Writers: Richard O'Brien (original musical play), Jim Sharman (screenplay)
Stars:Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick
Amazon: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

3) My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

An ambitious Asian Briton and his white lover strive for success and hope, when they open up a glamorous laundromat.

Director: Stephen Frears
Writer: Hanif Kureishi
Stars:Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Daniel Day-Lewis
Amazon: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

( Read more... )

Best Gay Romance Movie

1) Brokeback Mountain (2005)

The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys and their lives over the years.

Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Annie Proulx (short story), Larry McMurtry (screenplay)
Stars:Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams
Amazon: Brokeback Mountain (2005)

2) Just a Question of Love (Juste une question d'amour) (2000) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/501672.html)  

After his gay cousin dies from hepatitis, young Laurent, who lives with his best friend Carole, falls in love with Cedric, a plant scientist. He's afraid to inform his conservative parents that he is gay.

Director: Christian Faure
Writers: Christian Faure (adaptation), Annick Larboulette (head writer)
Stars:Cyrille Thouvenin, Stéphan Guérin-Tillié and Eva Darlan
Amazon: Just a Question of Love (Juste une question d'amour) (2000)

3) Beautiful Thing (1996) (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/495221.html)  

In a suburb of London, young Jamie is escaping sport hours, to avoid being the victim of his comrades. Young Ste, his neighbor, is beaten by his father, and comes to sleep overnight. They discover new feelings, sleeping in the same bed.

Director: Hettie Macdonald
Writers: Jonathan Harvey, Jonathan Harvey (play)
Stars:Glen Berry, Linda Henry and Meera Syal
Amazon: Beautiful Thing (1996)

( Read more... )

( For your reference (and further browsing) here is the general list, in voting order )

Fangs & Lullabies by Kallysten

I know, that was a low blow, having a small baby on the cover trying to attract unaware women with the strong power of their maternal instinct… problem is that, I’m not really a motherly type, and in any case I fell for the trick. But the cover, the blurb, a mix of both pushed me not only to buy the book but also to read it as soon as I downloaded the file.

Fangs & Lullabies is everything cover and blurb promised, a story about two unlikely fathers, not only since there is now woman around to play the role of the mother, but also since they are vampires. Andrew is the older and wiser and he is also the one who chase away Nicholas when he started to feed and kill humans. That was almost 100 years ago and in the meantime Andrew built another life, and other relationships, the last of which with a woman, Cara, the mother of his son Jacob. Jacob is a little miracle himself, vampires cannot father children, but Cara was a specialist in the fertility field and she found a way; problem is that, after 19 years of relationship, she was probably not so young anymore and the pregnancy was also her death sentence. She died in childbirth and Andrew was left alone with a little baby to rise. When Nicholas comes back, he doesn’t know about Jacob; he is not coming back to help Andrew, he is coming back since he cannot live no more without Andrew. Andrew is Nicholas’s sire, and Nicholas feels the pull every childe has towards his sire.

It’s strange but all the paranormal side of the story, Nicholas and Andrew being vampires, how one is a sire and the other a childe, how their life was before, the fact that they are centuries years old, everything seems to disappear when Jacob enters their life: from that moment on, they are only two fathers, rising a baby alone, not being ready to do so, and probably, if they have to be true to themselves, not planning to do that. After the prologue, where the author plans out all the details for the story, and give the readers the necessary “paranormal” elements, the novel takes a very precise pace, that of Jacob’s life; every chapter is a year in Jacob’s life, from 1 to 17 years old. Sometime the story is even told from Jacob’s point of view, who, like any other baby in the world, looks at his father, Andrew, like an hero, and so it’s not strange for him that he is out, fighting the bad guys. But again, Andrew’s job as demon hunter, everything happening outside their home, remains exactly there, outside.

I think the author did a good job in making the story believable (and yes, even with Andrew and Nicholas being vampires) without making nor Andrew or Nicholas the “wife”: Nicholas is indeed the one who is more at home, taking care of Jacob and effectively being the one raising him, but always waiting for Andrew to come back home and taking the important decisions… of course also planning everything to be sure that decisions matched the one Nicholas already took.

http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Fangs and Lullabies

Amazon Kindle: Fangs and Lullabies (The Demons Age)
Publisher: Alinar Publishing (February 17, 2011)

Reading List:



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

Fangs & Lullabies by Kallysten

I know, that was a low blow, having a small baby on the cover trying to attract unaware women with the strong power of their maternal instinct… problem is that, I’m not really a motherly type, and in any case I fell for the trick. But the cover, the blurb, a mix of both pushed me not only to buy the book but also to read it as soon as I downloaded the file.

Fangs & Lullabies is everything cover and blurb promised, a story about two unlikely fathers, not only since there is now woman around to play the role of the mother, but also since they are vampires. Andrew is the older and wiser and he is also the one who chase away Nicholas when he started to feed and kill humans. That was almost 100 years ago and in the meantime Andrew built another life, and other relationships, the last of which with a woman, Cara, the mother of his son Jacob. Jacob is a little miracle himself, vampires cannot father children, but Cara was a specialist in the fertility field and she found a way; problem is that, after 19 years of relationship, she was probably not so young anymore and the pregnancy was also her death sentence. She died in childbirth and Andrew was left alone with a little baby to rise. When Nicholas comes back, he doesn’t know about Jacob; he is not coming back to help Andrew, he is coming back since he cannot live no more without Andrew. Andrew is Nicholas’s sire, and Nicholas feels the pull every childe has towards his sire.

It’s strange but all the paranormal side of the story, Nicholas and Andrew being vampires, how one is a sire and the other a childe, how their life was before, the fact that they are centuries years old, everything seems to disappear when Jacob enters their life: from that moment on, they are only two fathers, rising a baby alone, not being ready to do so, and probably, if they have to be true to themselves, not planning to do that. After the prologue, where the author plans out all the details for the story, and give the readers the necessary “paranormal” elements, the novel takes a very precise pace, that of Jacob’s life; every chapter is a year in Jacob’s life, from 1 to 17 years old. Sometime the story is even told from Jacob’s point of view, who, like any other baby in the world, looks at his father, Andrew, like an hero, and so it’s not strange for him that he is out, fighting the bad guys. But again, Andrew’s job as demon hunter, everything happening outside their home, remains exactly there, outside.

I think the author did a good job in making the story believable (and yes, even with Andrew and Nicholas being vampires) without making nor Andrew or Nicholas the “wife”: Nicholas is indeed the one who is more at home, taking care of Jacob and effectively being the one raising him, but always waiting for Andrew to come back home and taking the important decisions… of course also planning everything to be sure that decisions matched the one Nicholas already took.

http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Fangs and Lullabies

Amazon Kindle: Fangs and Lullabies (The Demons Age)
Publisher: Alinar Publishing (February 17, 2011)

Reading List:



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