Snowed In by Rhianne Aile & Madeleine Urban

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Kasey, Mitch and Warren are colleague and best friend, of different age and predisposition: Kasey is 25 years old and bi-curious, Mitch is 30 years and bisexual (even if it came out to me more as gay) and Warren is 38 years old and straight. They plan to spend a weekend in a mountain cabin and a snowstorm forces them to stay inside the cabin and in near quarter. Kasey is an erotic romance in disguise, and when they are forced to find a way to spend the afternoon, he decides to write a bit: Mitch and Warren realize that he is writing a gay sex scene, but Mitch questions the reality of that scene. Kasey dares him to show how it should be done, but not on the paper, but for real. Mitch is willing, but he is worried for Warren, who seems a bit flustered to have an impromptu porn movie acted in front of him. But then the stupor turns in excitement and also straight Warren falls in the trap of curiosity.

The story is not very long, 66 pages, and it spans for only a night, so there are no clear answer at the end of it. Anyway, I like very much Mitch's character, so open and friendly; just in the past he was a bit interested in both his friends, but he probably never thought to have a chance with them. I don't  believe that in this moment he is searching the true love, maybe he is willing to play and if something follows, he is not against the idea. Kasey on the other hand sees a chance to try his hand in something he probably was interested before, and the possibility to play with two men he trusts is too good to let go. Warren is the more puzzling character... he should be the one that never in the past thought about such a thing, but, truth be told, he is not so skittish to the idea.

We don't know what it will happen next, they could stay good friends (with benefits) or they could build something more, and, maybe, the one who was the less likely, is the one who would be something more for the three of them.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/novellas.htm#Snowed_In_

Amazon Kindle: Snowed In

Reading List:

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

Comments

[byanca-silver.livejournal.com]

I dove into this one because it sounded enticing -three guys with different sexual orientations, comfy in a snowed-in cabin..Niiiiiice.

The first thing I noticed was that the writing was a bit choppy. It didn't flow as smoothly as I would have liked at all, and since I am a bit of a grammar and sentence structure buff (especially when it comes to published pieces) it irked me a bit - but definitely not enough to make me toss it.
The second thing is it was pretty hard to mentally follow and keep track of the characters' actions, especially when it came to the hot tub scene. I got lost trying to understand what position who was in, and how they managed to get from point A to B and then be in point F when we had no indication they had moved..stuff like that.
The third thing, was the description of the characters, which is always so important in a story. We know two are blond and one is a brunette, one has an English accent, and at the very end of the story...we learn their ages. I would have liked a better feel of how each of them looked and certain traits before turning to page 65.

Then for the story:
I really liked the interaction between the three guys. No animosity, no jealousy, total consideration and good regards - the love in their friendship was evident on each page.
I'm battling with who I like more..Kacey or Mitch. Warren was a bit too...child-like. His hesitance and admitted "ignorance" towards homosexual acts was totally understandable (although I think I would have liked to see more resistance from him) but that scene he had with Mitch in the kitchen was a bit too naive overboard.

As for what would happen next, I would really like to know. For some reason I don't think it can be fully as Mitch said -"nothing will change". I think things have to change, especially since Warren posed that last question to himself before falling asleep. Out of all three of them, Warren may have a hard time going back to the way things were.
I so see Kacey as planning little trips every now and then so that the three of them can be together again.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

You are true about the lack of information. For example, knowing that there is a big age difference between Warren and Kasey, maybe it would help me to read in a different way both characters. But when the book is short (for me everything under 100 is short), I thought, well, there was no time. Anyway, for an erotica piece (since it's an erotic romance), it was nice and with quite an unexpected end: I still don't know if it's an HEA or not. Elisa

[byanca-silver.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was pretty short so that's definitely something to take into consideration, but I think that since they made the move to go with 66 pages, one or two more couldn't hurt :) For an erotica especially, I like fleshed out characters because otherwise the story feels like "body parts with voices against body parts with voices".

Sorry Elisa, but what is "HEA"?

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

HEA is happily ever after, a type of ending pretty commmon in romance :-) Elisa

[byanca-silver.livejournal.com]

ooohhh..lol. Thank you.

[abx-journal.livejournal.com]

This is one of my favorites, I'm hoping that there is a follow-up

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Yes, for being a novella it gives a lot of good starting points for a following longer story. Elisa