Turkey in the Snow by Amy Lane

Very sweet Christmas story, I sure hope the author will revisit them to prolong their story.

Henry is a young business executive who finds himself the guardian of his little nephew; likely there is no big drama like the death of his sister at the origin of this event, the sister simply ran away leaving the kid behind, because Henry doesn’t like drama. He managed to grow up in an disordered family mostly unscathed, but now he really cannot manage drama. But unfortunately for him, he likes his boys to be pretty and flamboyant, and drama queen is usually their nickname; he can well said that after his bad experience with former boyfriend Alan.

So Henry is not at all looking at Justin, the college student working part-time at the day-care Henry is using for his nephew; Justin is young, barely legal, pretty and very much flamboyant. But he has also an heart big like the entire world, Josie adores him, and he is cute like a puppy on a window pet shop. The problem is, will Henry be able to manage the man puppy Justin will turn into in a few years?

Really enjoyed this sweet story, charming and cute, pretty much drama free like Henry likes, if not for the innocuous antics of Justin, that more than drama were waves of happiness.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3408


Amazon Kindle: Turkey in the Snow
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (November 30, 2012)

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Hot off the Presses: A Novel by Elliott Mackle

Unexpectedly erotic, Hot Off the Presses is the first novel I read by Elliott Mackle. I’m true, I picked this one because I was expecting for it to be a little more “easy” than other more acclaimed works by this author, and indeed it has the above “erotic content” that caught me almost by surprise.

But even with the sex, this is not at all a light novel, it’s about important issues like racism and AIDS prevention, it’s also about the struggle of a man to reconcile his private life with his professional career and commitment.

I quite like, and found original, the impromptu of the story, Henry is the editor of a LGBT magazine owned by a conservative Old Atlanta couple; how it came that an heterosexual and conservative couple owns a LGBT magazine is what makes this at the same time original and sad: the couple’s son, Chad, died in a sea accident with his business partner, and possible lover, Chip, leaving the ownership of their “baby”, a much loved magazine, to his parents. And now Henry is fighting to matching the very reason of existence of the same magazine with the compromises its owners are asking him.

In the middle of all this, Henry is still a gay man and having his needs, needs that, in a AIDS plagued era, he fulfills with anonymous, but safe encounters in the local hot baths; here he meets Wade, pupil of the US gymnastic team, that is raised to be the golden child at the imminent 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Even if Henry is pretty involved with Wade, I really hated this characters; lying and also racists, I really cannot see what Henry found in him, and when Brian enters the scene, I was all for cheering him as substitute of Wade.

As I said there is a lot of sex, sometime probably even too much, maybe since I was not liking the people Henry was having sex with ;-) so of all the sex scenes, I’m probably saving half, but not since they were not well written, but simply since I prefer for the sex to turn into love and happily ever after. Again, unexpectedly, a some sort of happily ever after is in there for Henry, if he is wise enough to grab it.

Good, strong story, with some nice twists and turns, kept me always wondering what was next. Maybe I didn’t like all the characters, maybe not even fully 100% Henry, but as always I say, unlikable characters make for an original, and thought, good novel.

http://lethepressbooks.com/gay.htm#mackle-hot-off-the-presses

Amazon: Hot off the Presses: A Novel
Amazon Kindle: Hot off the Presses: A Novel
Paperback: 308 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (July 31, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590213254
ISBN-13: 978-1590213254

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

Where You Are by J.H. Trumble

Not an easy book, a very sensitive matter the author managed with a firm hand, and a right mix of romanticism, without losing the focus on reality.

Middle twenty Calculus high school teacher Andrew falls for his 17 years old student Robert. Said like that, many adults will already hate on the spot Andrew, especially if they have experience with teaching and with the ethic that comes with that. But this is not a story you can judge with prejudices; first of all, Robert is a troubled kid, his estranged father is dying of terminal cancer right in their home, and in a way, Robert is guilty he cannot feel the pain he should in such situation. From that side, this is not the story of a father and a son who manages to find each other before it’s too late, Robert has never had a relationship with his father since his father was a kid himself not ready to raising one. Right for this bad relationship with the father figure, I have never felt like Robert was searching a substitute to his father in Andrew.

If instead we took Andrew’s perspective, I see a man who would like to be still a young boy without commitments, and instead he is not only a teacher, with all the commitment it meant, but he is also the father of a little girl. Andrew is gay, always has been, and his daughter is the classical mistake of a drunken night. Not that Andrew is regretting the decision to have her, but he is probably feeling like all the world is on his shoulders, when in the end he is still a boy. That is a reason more why he is not a fatherly figure to Robert, and on the contrary, I think he sees himself more like a peer to Robert’s 17 years.

The novel is not easy because it’s clear we are heading towards a catastrophe; there is no possible happily ever after to Andrew and Robert, not if Andrew wants to continue being a teacher. At the same time, I was hoping for them to be able to find a solution, a solution that had to hurt someone, but I was hoping not them. My hope in the end was not fully met, but at least I can assure the potential reader that this drama will not turn into tragedy; there is a price to pay for happiness, but Andrew and Robert will be willing to pay it.

Amazon: Where You Are
Amazon Kindle: Where You Are
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Kensington (December 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758277164
ISBN-13: 978-0758277169

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