Again by Mary Calmes

The story is very romantic, even if I had the feeling Noah was a little naïve; Dante and Noah loved each other, their family supported them, everything was so perfect that they decide to have a child using Noah’s sister as surrogate mother. If their relationship was so strong and long-lasting, how Noah could have given up to it so easy? And if Dante was so clever to be a CIA agent, how could he be so easily deceived?

One way or the other, Dante and Noah parted way and Noah brings up their daughter all alone; if some reader will question how realistic Grace is, you have never lived with a 4 years old baby girl… they can be even more cute than that.

The proof that both Dante than Noah had too easily given up to their story is that, as soon as they are once again in the same room together, and can finally talk for more than few minutes, all trouble are solved, and they basically take up from where they ended things.

The timeline is not long, more or less 2 days, one in the past and one in the present; the most interesting side of the story is that is funny, yes, funny: even when there is the “drama”, the break-up between Noah and Dante, the author prefers to maintain it on the light tone; when Noah and Dante meet again, Dante is obviously the Alpha male, but he, again, has more a light attitude, and truth be told, Noah doesn’t resist much, maybe right since Dante is like that.

Again is only a novella, but it’s sweet and funny.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2411

Amazon Kindle: Again
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (July 12, 2011)

Reading List:

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

Again by Mary Calmes

The story is very romantic, even if I had the feeling Noah was a little naïve; Dante and Noah loved each other, their family supported them, everything was so perfect that they decide to have a child using Noah’s sister as surrogate mother. If their relationship was so strong and long-lasting, how Noah could have given up to it so easy? And if Dante was so clever to be a CIA agent, how could he be so easily deceived?

One way or the other, Dante and Noah parted way and Noah brings up their daughter all alone; if some reader will question how realistic Grace is, you have never lived with a 4 years old baby girl… they can be even more cute than that.

The proof that both Dante than Noah had too easily given up to their story is that, as soon as they are once again in the same room together, and can finally talk for more than few minutes, all trouble are solved, and they basically take up from where they ended things.

The timeline is not long, more or less 2 days, one in the past and one in the present; the most interesting side of the story is that is funny, yes, funny: even when there is the “drama”, the break-up between Noah and Dante, the author prefers to maintain it on the light tone; when Noah and Dante meet again, Dante is obviously the Alpha male, but he, again, has more a light attitude, and truth be told, Noah doesn’t resist much, maybe right since Dante is like that.

Again is only a novella, but it’s sweet and funny.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2411

Amazon Kindle: Again
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (July 12, 2011)

Reading List:

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

Spoils of War by Kari Gregg

Spoils of War is 100% what not so long ago people defined a savage romance, or, a bodice ripper. But actually to Micah it goes even worst than the heroines of those old fashioned romances, since if they were raped, it was only at the hands of who will become their chosen hero; unfortunately here Micah, the kidnapped son of a king is continuously raped by his captors for almost a year before Eli, his rescuer, can free him.

Micah, kidnapped at 8 years old and traumatized by the death of his own mother, has for sure suffered from a trauma that blocked his mental growth, he is more a boy than an adult man; and being deprived of food and care, also his body didn’t grow as expected, and he is small and fragile.

Since he has never known anything else, Micah consider sex like an ordinary way to prove attachment; when Eli freed him, Micah identifies in the man his new master, and of course he has to prove to his master that he is worthy. On the contrary of what most reader will expect, Eli is more than willing to have sex with Micah, but for the first time, it’s Micah receiving pleasure. Eli dotes on Micah like he is a precious treasure, bathing him, feeding him, and giving him pleasure. Micah is “allowed” to receive such pleasure, but Eli stubbornly refuses to let Micah do any sexual act that would bring sexual relief to Eli without it being shared between them.

While I really felt uncomfortable with the first part of the story, when Micah is a sex slave for his captor, I started to enjoy the story reading of the bond that was slowly but steadily growing between Micah and Eli, above all, even if Eli is for sure stronger than Micah, he never once imposes himself on the boy, letting Micah grows confident of his sexuality at his own pace. I don’t think Micah will ever overcome his trauma, and I think he will always be more a boy than a man, but at least now he knows there are people who care for him, and that he is safe and cared for.

https://www.nobleromance.com/Books/192/Spoils-of-War

Amazon: Spoils of War
Amazon Kindle: Spoils of War
Paperback: 146 pages
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing, LLC (January 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160592184X
ISBN-13: 978-1605921846

Reading List:

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

Spoils of War by Kari Gregg

Spoils of War is 100% what not so long ago people defined a savage romance, or, a bodice ripper. But actually to Micah it goes even worst than the heroines of those old fashioned romances, since if they were raped, it was only at the hands of who will become their chosen hero; unfortunately here Micah, the kidnapped son of a king is continuously raped by his captors for almost a year before Eli, his rescuer, can free him.

Micah, kidnapped at 8 years old and traumatized by the death of his own mother, has for sure suffered from a trauma that blocked his mental growth, he is more a boy than an adult man; and being deprived of food and care, also his body didn’t grow as expected, and he is small and fragile.

Since he has never known anything else, Micah consider sex like an ordinary way to prove attachment; when Eli freed him, Micah identifies in the man his new master, and of course he has to prove to his master that he is worthy. On the contrary of what most reader will expect, Eli is more than willing to have sex with Micah, but for the first time, it’s Micah receiving pleasure. Eli dotes on Micah like he is a precious treasure, bathing him, feeding him, and giving him pleasure. Micah is “allowed” to receive such pleasure, but Eli stubbornly refuses to let Micah do any sexual act that would bring sexual relief to Eli without it being shared between them.

While I really felt uncomfortable with the first part of the story, when Micah is a sex slave for his captor, I started to enjoy the story reading of the bond that was slowly but steadily growing between Micah and Eli, above all, even if Eli is for sure stronger than Micah, he never once imposes himself on the boy, letting Micah grows confident of his sexuality at his own pace. I don’t think Micah will ever overcome his trauma, and I think he will always be more a boy than a man, but at least now he knows there are people who care for him, and that he is safe and cared for.

https://www.nobleromance.com/Books/192/Spoils-of-War

Amazon: Spoils of War
Amazon Kindle: Spoils of War
Paperback: 146 pages
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing, LLC (January 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160592184X
ISBN-13: 978-1605921846

Reading List:

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

Best Gay Paranormal / Horror (3° place): Zombielicious by Timothy McGivney

Also Best Gay Debut Novel (2° Place)

Big warning: if you are searching “only” a romance, Zombielicious is way more than that. And second warning, even if there is a gay couple, Walt and Joey, who really steal the scene are the two women, Jill and Molly, in good and bad.

The writing style is quite original, and in a way, “fast”: there are different acts, and for each of them we will read the different point of view of all main characters, always in the same sequence, Molly, Walt, Jill, Ace and Joey. Of course, I was more interested in Walt and Joey, and their story was, among all the horror happening around, very sweet. Walt is still mourning the loss of Barney, a guy he fell in love in high school, but whom he had not the courage to protect; Barney committed suicide and Walt is still playing the “if” game: if he had the courage to help him, if he had the courage to come out, if he had the courage to let him know he was not alone… Usually you don’t have a second chance, but here it’s for Walt: not only a chance to finally prove his courage but also to fall in love again, with a guy, Joey, that is almost the carbon copy of Barney.

Zombielicious has really a “young” feeling, and not only since both Walt than Joey are really young, 20 and 18 years old, but also since it seemed like one of those modern videogames, where you win according to how many “evil” people you kill; and as in those games, unfortunately life is not sacred, and so even if there are 5 players, it’s not said that all of them will arrive at the end of the game.

Truth be told I didn’t care much for the gory details, and all the zombies environment was quite claustrophobic, it seemed nowhere was safe for our two heroes to have some quality time alone, but maybe since they were young, and horny, or maybe since the author liked them, Walt and Joey have their chance to share their feelings also in a more physical way; that was probably what I prefer to read, of course.

For sure, Timothy McGivney didn’t choose an easy plot, but he was faithful to that, as I said, in good and bad, so, when settling to read this novel, be ready at every turn, and aware nothing is sacred.

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

Amazon: Zombielicious
Amazon Kindle: Zombielicious
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (December 23, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608202631
ISBN-13: 978-1608202638



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