The Traveling Show by Anna Birmingham

Just a short story, but very sweet and tender. Mikey is only 18 years old and with a bright future in front of him, problem is, he doesn’t like that future. Mikey has always lived in a small town, has never had the chance to experiment outside the edge of his “family”, he doesn’t know if he is gay or straight simply since he has never met anyone who has stirred something in him. But then the fair comes into town, and with it Nick, 20 years old and “experienced”; now Nick is not very different from Mikey, it’s only that he has lived with the fair, traveling from town to town, and that is the only life he knows. To Mikey and Nick that seems paradise, the freedom of living without boundaries, the independence of doing what you want when you want. But is Nick really free as he appears? What if Nick wanted something different, what if he wanted an home and a boyfriend? But this is not Nick’s story, it’s Mickey’s and from Nick’s encounter, Mickey will learn he has alternatives in life. And maybe, those alternatives will bring him back to Nick sometime in the future.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2713

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

Pulling Apart by Shawn Lane

Interesting approach to the concept of “what happens after the happily ever after?” We left Charlie and Noah as a loving and committed couple, but not they are having trouble. Charlie didn’t treat in the right way his depression and not the monster is back, huger than ever. Noah is unable to reach his lover, who is fallen in an apathetic stage that is very worrisome. I really feared he was thinking to do something stupid, but the author decided not to play that tragic card. In any case Charlie is not well, and he is pulling apart Noah, forcing him to leave their shared home. At first Noah is worried for Charlie, but then he is also angry, so angry that he is thinking to do something in spite of Charlie’s refusal to be help.

As I said, I liked the idea of letting the reading beyond the happily ever after of the previous story; it’s not that Charlie and Noah are suddenly no more good together or in love, but an happily ever after is not easy to manage, especially when you neglected something serious like depression. And I liked that Noah is not playing the martyr, and that, even if not till the end, he searched in a way to come free of the situation Charlie put him.

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

Amazon Kindle: Pulling Apart
Publisher: Amber Quill Press, LLC (January 5, 2011)

Series:
1) Pulling Away: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/443548.html
2) Car Wash: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/617713.html
3) Pulling Apart

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