The Missing Butterfly by Megan Derr

The Missing Butterfly is not a complex romance, actually it’s pretty much adherent to the romance canon and for that reason it’s comfortable and sweet. It’s a mix of cinderfella meets office romance with a side of show business.

At 18 years old Cassidy had dreams to be a rock star and the potential to reach them; but then he was suddenly brought back to ordinary life when he found himself to be the guardian of his two teenagers brother and sister. Cassidy did the right thing, leaving his band, the Four Butterflies that now are The Missing Butterfly, in “memory” of Cassidy.

Cassidy covered his tattoos and removed his piercing and he became a perfect office clerk. Now 8 years later he is working for Malcolm, a millionaire young man with a from rags to riches story of his own: foster kid with only his beauty to prospect him a better future, Malcolm found himself the heir of an huge amount of money when an estranged uncle passed away. Now he is working more to fill the hours than for a real interest in what he is doing.

There is really a cinderfella plot in the story, when Cassidy uncovers his tattoos and goes out for a Friday night (like Cinderella with her gown for the ball) and meets a very drunk Malcolm who doesn’t recognize him. The Monday after Cassidy is back to his conservative attire and Malcolm doesn’t remember anything of the night if not that he made out with an handsome guy covered in tattoos.

This and other events in the plot depicts Malcolm as the perfect Prince Charming, or maybe a Knight in Shining Armor, substituting the sword with enough money to slain all bad people and make room for his own tattooed prince. You don’t have to search a deep meaning to this romance, if not being entertaining and sweet, and yes, a bit unrealistic, it’s like reading one of those gossip magazines and dreaming to be the one in the glossed pictures.

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Amazon: The Missing Butterfly
Amazon Kindle: The Missing Butterfly
Paperback: 172 pages
Publisher: Less Than Three Press (January 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936202085
ISBN-13: 978-1936202089

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

Best Gay Contemporary General Fiction: Listening To Dust by Brandon Shire

This novel is short and yet immense; it’s deeply romantic but so tragic; it’s about regenerating love and devastating death.

I don’t want to give out much about the novel, and in the end you will learn everything, even too much, right at the beginning, but be prepared to read about the love and loss of Englishman Stephen and his American lover Dustin. When Dustin fell in love with Stephen, he was completely unprepared, no one has ever loved him if not his handicapped brother Robbie and an old school teacher, Miss Emily. But loving Stephen, in a faraway country from his conservative Southern small town meant leaving behind those two people, and for Dustin leaving Robbie was not an option.

It broke my heart when Dustin left Stephen, but indeed the organ was already damaged, because the author chooses a narrative plot that starts from the end to going back to the beginning, and so the reader already knows what is the fate of Dustin and Stephen. In a way, the author is not deceiving anyone, he is not letting you hope in an happily ever after, and so you can concentrate on the rough feelings you are experiencing reading the novel, like voluntarily spreading salt on an open wound, you know it will hurt but maybe that sudden pain will be more bearable than the continuous aching.

Amazon: Listening To Dust
Amazon Kindle: Listening To Dust
Paperback: 142 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 21, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1470181290
ISBN-13: 978-1470181291



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