Review of Animal Magnetism Anthology

Rating: 4.75 stars

Animal Magnetism is an anthology of 15 short stories by 15 wonderful authors of m/m lovers brought together by members of the animal kingdom. It may be a snake called Ganymede or two kittens in need of a home and names. It could be a collection of spiders loose in a basement or klepto octopus with a fondness for pens, all types of animals can be a catalyst for love for the right people and under the right conditions! In these stories, the authors give you all those animals and many more on the path to romance and love.

I am such a sucker for animal stories and this anthology gave me 15 wonderful stories to curl up with and enjoy. What delighted me the most was that along with the cute dog and kitten stories, the authors came up with tales that revolved around a falconer and his golden eagle, a pick pocket and a horse with trust issues, a groundskeepers relationship with an Indian palm squirrel named Jonno, an artist with a potty mouthed parrot, and a earthquake that allows a man to find love and start over even as it destroys everything around him. Some stories are light-hearted romps through a grade school teacher’s pet experiences to the terrifying race to outrun the waves of a tsunami, the range of emotions and settings are of such tremendous variety that there is something for everyone within this strong anthology. An animal lover and retired Park Naturalist, so many of these stories contain elements that resonate with me, whether is was because of animals I have worked with, situations I have been in or just plain animals that fascinate me and I know you will love them too. This is a tremendous anthology and I know that I will return time and again to these stories to meet up with the people and animals they have introduced me to and have so totally engaged my feelings. I highly recommend you pick this book up. Here are the stories in the order they are listed in the anthology.

Stories included are:

A Few Too Many by Heidi Champa. – A sheepdog imbibes after a competition and his drunken state introduces his owner to the new vet in town.
Having a Ball by Cari Z.- Uncle Jimmy is petsitting his niece’s snake and accidentally overfeeds it too many mice. Lucky for him, there is a gorgeous herpetologist living a floor above. Great plot and wonderful characterizations had me laughing out loud. A favorite of mine.

Along Came Spiders by Matthew Vandrew – A nurse and a police officer get trapped in a basement full of loose spiders when they come to the aid of an unconscious man during an earthquake. Again, we get strong characters, great plot and oodles of spiders. Terrific.

Cuddling Up by Chris T. Kat – Big cat keepers have a disagreement over zoo protocol and end up hot and heavy before its over.. The author really knows zoo protocol so the characters actions are very realistic while the sex is as hot and steamy as they come

New Tides by Avery Vanderlyle – I loved this story of a man adjusting to being single after a breakup as well as a new job in an aquarium where the catalyst to a new love happens to be a octopus called Cleopatra. The author got everything right, from the detail about the University of Maryland’s programs to the curious intellect of the octopus and the wonderful characters trying to find love among the marine fauna. Absolutely a delight and a story I read twice.

Care and Rehabilitation by Kim Fielding – A man gets help in dealing with the death of a partner when his St. Bernard mix brings him a baby bird in need of a helping hand from a bird rehabber who knows something about loss. Fielding gives us a sensitive portrayal of a man unable to move forward after the death of a partner and the event that finally helps him move on. I loved this beautiful story that relates the rescue of a small bird to the rescue of a man in the stasis of grief.

Butterbean and the Pretty Princess Make a Home by R. Cooper – I have recently found R Cooper and now gobble up all she writes. Here is another example as to why Cooper has become an instant favorite. Those names alone are pure gold as are the men behind them. Cooper takes a normal situation of roommates in love and elevates it with two unique characters dancing around the L word. All it takes to push them over is two small kittens. Love, love this story

Jonno by Emily Gould – Palm squirrel meets man, squirrel bites man, man meets vet. Turns out squirrel not so bad after all. So cute.

On an Eagle’s Wings by A.J. Marcus – After I read that Marcus is also a falconer everything about this story made sense, including the authenticity running from page to page in this tale of love in the wilderness that comes to two lonely men. Vivid descriptions of the wilderness carry the author’s love of the outdoors and his appreciation of nature and raptors with such mesmerizing clarity to the reader that I felt I was there. Great job.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? by Skylar Jaye – Can love be found among chickens? Why yes they can in this story that manages to bring chickens up close and personal while delivering a love story for the egges, oop ages. Sorry, couldn’t resist

Tears for a Broken Sun by Minerva Wisting – A surprising white knuckle ride of a story inspired by Great Tohoku Earthquake. Wisting makes us feel every second of every minute of the approaching tsunami. We understand what the uncomprehending Akira does not, that his dog Wan is trying to pull him away from the shore up the mountain to safety. Our anxiety mounts as he notices the absence of birds and the wild barking of his dog after the earthquake. Not a missed step in this superlative story of love found among a natural disaster.

Stripped Bare by Lily Velden – An artist with a potty mouthed parrot has his first showing and love shows up as one of the buyers. Cute and clever.

Wild Horses by Kate Pavelle – A pickpocket named Kai steals a cellphone and its owner wants the phone returned. When Kai does, he finds not only sanctuary but a path to love as well. I loved this. While not a HEA, the author shows us tantalizing glimpses into a possible future for everyone involved, including the horses. Everything about this story fascinates and intrigues the reader, from the hidden backstories of the main characters to the very nature of the special horses themselves. I wanted so much more once the story was over.

Show and Tell by Liz Makar – First grade teacher Damian Coletti kills the class room pet yet again. Can the new pet store owner save the class from another loss and find love at the same time? Why of course, he can. Funny, with terrifyingly accurate portrayals of kids and great characters looking for love romp through the pages of this story.

The Conch Republic by G.S. Wiley – Wild conchs lead two men back to love in this story set in Key West. I have never read a story that used live conchs as a springboard to love so this is a first. It’s so successful that it might start a whole new take on the puppy love thing. Conch love, who knew? Great story, wonderful characters and a plot so easy to relate to that I felt like I was in a Key West state of mind.

Cover: Cover Art by Shobana Appavu . The cover works best when viewed up close so you can see all the different types of animals. At a distance, it all seems very confused and busy.

September’s Over, and The Week Ahead includes an Author Spotlight and Book Contest!

The last day of September is here and once again it seems as though the month just flew by along with the Canada geese overhead. I haven’t seen any hummingbirds for several days now and wonder if the last of the summer migrants have passed by as well. I will leave the feeders up until next week just to be sure but the autumn wreaths are on the doors and the various maple trees have already started to turn glorious colors so the feeders I am steadily filling now are the ones that contain sunflower seeds.

My favorite month is a day away and so much is happening. My fish are getting a deeper pond for winter and the work starts tomorrow. Several family birthdays and celebrations are happening so I am busy with new dishes and desserts to try out. I love new recipes and will be passing on the ones I find most successful. October is also bringing new releases in books that I have been waiting for and closure to the Lost Gods series by Megan Derr. I have loved my journey through the books that are the Lost Gods saga and now await the last, Chaos. Andrea Speed’s anti hero Roan get another installment too on the 5th, a date circled many times in red to make the occasion.

The first day of October starts out with a bang of a new release. That would be My Regelence Rake by JL Langley. JL Langley produces about one book every year. So to celebrate the latest in her Sci Regency series, I will be giving away one copy of her book from Samhain Publishing to a lucky person who comments during the week. It will be a great week ahead as we talk cowboys, shifters, and of course how did Regency end up in Space? The winner of the book will be picked by Kirby on Friday!

Monday: Author Spotlight: J.L. Langley

Tuesday: Sci Regency Series Review

Wednesday: With or Without Series Review

Thursday: Cowboys with JL Langley

Friday: My Regelence Rake and winner of the Contest

Saturday: The Tin Star and why I love it.

Review of Wolf’s Own: Ghost by Carole Cummings

Rating: 4.75 stars

Fen Jacen-rei is a Ghost, an Untouchable, his power revealed at birth and his fate sealed by the Universe and the gods Raven and Wolf. One half of twin brothers born to a Full Blooded Jin mother, his father sold him to a mage who accompanied the birth-wife the night he and his brother Joori were born. Most twins, you see, were killed at birth or spirited away to an unspeakable end, But that night the Stranger intervened, promising to keep them hidden, saving them for a price. The price? That upon the boy’s coming into his powers, the Stranger would return and take him away.

Fen Jacen-rei was normal until he matured and then the Voices came to him, all the voices of the Ancestors, the spirits of the dead mages swirling through his brain, threatening to overwhelm him, to break his sanity as they have done for all the other poor Untouchables who now wander mad, babbling and cursed across their occupied land. In the house of Asai the Mage,Fen Jacen-rei fights those same voices, trying to maintain his sanity through cutting as he trains as an assassin for the one who bought him. A Mage who hides him until he is ready to be used as a weapon.

But the Gods have other plans for the Ghost and the Ghost assassin is recruited by his competitors. This time by Kamen Malick and his small band of outlaws and assassins who were told to grab the Ghost and bring him into the fold, no matter the means, by another Magician with ties to the Wolf God. It seems that Fen Jacen-rei is a Catalyst, one who changes the balance of power. But for whose side? For Asai and the Raven? Or Malick and the Wolf? As mysteries and layers of magical subterfuge swirls around him, Fen Jacen-rei only knows that he must protect the ones he loves and seek vengeance upon the person who betrayed them all. He will need help in his quest but who to trust when all seem cloaked in smoke and all the paths are mazes.

Hooked. I am totally hooked by the story and the world building of Carole Cummings. I have to admit I was a little uncertain when I opened the book to find a glossary list of terms, gods, and history. When I have to get through pages of info dump before I can get to the first chapter, well let’s just say that it never works out well. It’s my opinion that the author should be able to weave that information into the story without forcing the reader to be attached to a reference guide at all times. Knowing that, it won’t surprise you that I blithely disregard said pages and jump right into the story and see what comes. And what normally comes my way is an overpopulated, dense narrative so consumed by its own world building that plot and characterization are quickly forgotten. Not here. That did not happen here to my delight and astonishment. I could pick up the history and world building bit by bit and compile a picture of the world Fen Jacen-rei inhabits without referring back to an encyclopedia, just as I should.

Wolf’s Own is a series of which Ghost is book 1. Carole Cummings does her job and then some as an author in delivering to the reader a new universe in which to play in. We have two races and their pantheon of Gods and godlings. One race held the magic albeit a little too carelessly, the other benefited until a war broke out, the balance was broken and the Gods fell silent. One race, the Jin have had their lands taken away, their families destroyed, the children killed and their magic drained by the Adan for unspeakable purposes. Not all the Adan are aware of what is happening within their society, how would they feel if they knew what horrors were being perpetuated upon the fallen? Layer by layer, Cummings builds a world rich in religious traditions and Gods, of political plots and empires, of magic and its consequences. And we get all this while never forgetting that there are people caught in the middle, whose lives have been torn asunder, loved ones killed or kidnapped, or driven mad by forces out of their control. Powerful themes abound through this book like the winds of a storm, full of thunder, and lightning and drenching rain that covers everything in its path.

Carole Cummings is as careful with her characterizations as she is with the world building. These beings breath, cry and break before our eyes. They accept that life is cruel and try to find ways to adapt and survive on a daily basis. Cummings brings us beings at every level of society, from prostitutes to Mages and makes them all so very real. I like that she also keeps us guessing as the each beings real nature, as every character seems to be wearing a mask of sorts. No one is really who they seem to be. Fen Jacen-rei is such a compelling character that I took him to heart immediately. A child caught up in the war of Gods, he cries out for our sympathy and love from the first time we meet him, the night he was born and listen as his craven father sells him off. The pain of watching him taught his craft and being manipulated by a Mage who uses Fen’s need to be loved is heartbreaking. We are invested in this young man from the outset and are pulled along by the force of our own feelings for him and his story. All the other characters are equally well drawn, from Malick to the sister twin assassins he rescued from blood slavery to the Mage and Asai himself.

My only quibble is that the book stops just before they all set out on a mission. Kill me, just kill me now as I hate cliffhangers. This story is so outstanding that I don’t even mind what is usually a problem for me. But in other ways, my frustration excluded, the end point made perfect sense. Joori, the brother, has power too and the Gods are circling about Jen’s family with a vengeance. That is the perfect place to start the second book in the series, Wolf’s Own #2: Weregild. I cannot wait to start that one. But in the meantime, I am thrilled to find a new addiction. I have a new series that has all the elements to make it one of the best of the year and a new author. Its a great day. So, run out and pick this one up. If you love info dumps, read the glossary. Yes, I know. The author went to a lot of trouble to compile it. But she didn’t need to. So if you are like me, skip it and get right into a tale to remember and characters that won’t let you go. I promise you won’t be sorry.

Gorgeous cover art by the inestimable Anne Cain.

Review of Magic’s Muse (Hidden Places #2) by Anne Barwell

Rating: 4.5 points

Tomas Kemp and Cathal Emerys have finally returned to Tomas’ home after escaping from Naearu, Cathal’s world in an alternative universe. And while the men hope they are finally safe from Cathal’s cousin, Lady Deryn and the laws governing his world, neither man really believes it. The cost of their escape is high. Christian, another of Cathal’s cousins, has lost almost everything he loved and is confined to the shape of a cat for as long as the magic of his punishment holds. Cathal is also confined within the boundaries of the inn where they now reside, chained by magic to the oak tree that is the portal between the worlds.

Cathal’s nightmares are increasing now that he and Tomas have consummated their relationship and Tomas seems to be acquiring some magic of his own in the interim. Naearu’s enforcers, The Falcons, are still capable of coming after them, and nightly Lady Deryn whispers threats in Cathal’s mind, promising to kill Tomas if Cathal doesn’t return to their world and marry her. Cathal and Tomas are struggling with their relationship, Cathal is still keeping secrets from Tomas and Tomas is still trying to overcome his self centered impulses and isolated ways to find a way to have an equal relationship with Cathal. Only when the portal is closed, can both men feel safe to plan for their future.

Magic’s Muse is the second in the Hidden Places series but the first that I have read by Anne Barwell. The first book, Cat’s Quill, centers around Tomas’s meeting Cathal and their time in Naearu. It sets out Anne Barwell’s world and myth building that is so important to the events that occur here and introduces us to characters in the continuing storyline of the Hidden Places. That said, I am not sure I wish to go back and read what must be a very bittersweet story. If I do, it will be because Anne Barwell has such a beautiful way with the English language. Her sentences flow with a magic all of their own, transporting us easily to places we have never been to meet people not of this world. Her narrative is rich in its descriptions and the tumultuous emotions of all the characters involved. From the lyrical passages of the countryside with its fields and magical oak tree to the dust motes in the attic of the inn that has been the focal point of time travel, it makes us feel that we are there, listening to the floor boards creak and the branches sigh with the wind.

Her characters are as rich and complex as the story she is telling. Tomas Kemp is a author of popular books and initially a tough character to invest your affections in. He comes across as extremely self centered, oblivious sometimes to the feelings of those closest to him. Tomas’ attention is all about his writing, he is consumed with his stories, one of which will bring him into contact with Lord Cathal Emerys of Naearu. We can recognize Tomas as one whose social skills are sadly lacking and whose focus is always somewhere else, even when someone is talking to him. Indeed while Tomas can come off as quite dour, Cathal shimmers with magic and vulnerability. Cathal easily endears himself to the reader, for Tomas it takes a little longer. Cathal misses his family even as he recognizes that Tomas’ world is the only place they will be safe and have a future. Cathal is filled with guilt over his role in Christian’s punishment and struggling to find a balance in his relationship with Tomas. So much is going on in Cathal’s head and heart that sometimes he is feel estranged from the every day moments in the inn. Barwell imbues all of her characters with so much heart, soul, and intelligence that everyone breathes and bleeds across the pages.

And bleed these characters do. Whether is it actual blood, or their emotions bleeding out of them, there is so much sadness and loss within these story that your heart hurts from reading it. Christian is an especially tragic figure. Condemned to being a cat, he was torn away form his wife and newborn son. His beloved wife continued to wait for him to return up to her last breath as what is months in one world is years in Tomas’. And now his son is dying in a nursing home and his grandson needs him badly. Christian’s wife’s sketches and paintings pop up throughout the story bringing with them the bittersweet memories of their all too short time together. He too awaits the closing of the portal, the only thing that will restore his human form. No character is left untouched by regret or sorrow. Looming over all the events occurring is the threat that the Falcons can reappear to pull one or all of them back to Naearu for judgment and jail. Over and over we are told their reappearance is eminent and the foreboding builds incrementally. And that brings me to my only quibble with this tale.

We are left with quite a few dangling ends of the saga, so many that I assume that another book will follow this one. A child is still missing, two characters have just paired up and all agree that Lady Deryn will never give up on her goal of marriage to Cathal and her need to destroy Tomas. With all that hanging over our couple and their friends at the end, I would classify this as a happy for now, not the happy ever after others see it as. Perhaps I am wrong, but I think not. That would let Cathal and Tomas off too easily, something I would not expect of Barwell and her saga building. With descriptive passages and a richly enthralling narrative Barwell conjures up a tale of two worlds and a rising rebellion that will effect both. This story can only be part of a much larger plan. I look forward to seeing what comes next.

Cover by Anne Cain is one of my absolute favorites. As rich in detail and evocative in feeling as the book itself, it is one of my best of the year.

Hidden Places series in the order they should be read:

Cat’s Quill (Hidden Places#1) 350 pages

Magic’s Muse (Hidden Places #2) 294 pages

Review of Sidecar by Amy Lane

Rating: 5 stars

It was cold even for November as Josiah and Casey Daniels motored home down Foresthill Road and it was getting dark. So it took them a while to notice the young boy shivering by the side of the road. They stop the motorcycle with its sidecar and Casey climbs out to investigate, already knowing what he will find. The runaway’s lips are blue, his limbs are too thin, and he is wearing way too little clothing for that time of year. As Josiah watches from the motorcycle, Casey takes one look at the small lost, pinched face and remembers another day 25 years earlier. Once glance back at Joe’s face tells Casey that Joe is remembering that day too.

The year is 1987 and Josiah Daniels is on his motorcycle heading home to Foresthill, the ramshackle house on 20 acres he has just purchased. He’s just come off 3 twelve hour days at the hospital where he is a nurse and he’s bone tired. It’s so dark that he almost doesn’t see the young man shivering on the side of the road. He stops and climbs off, slowly heading over to the small figure, holding his hands out with his leather jacket extended and tells the boy to take it and put it on. It takes some convincing but eventually Joe gets the boy wrapped up and on the back of the hog and they motor to his house. Joe has found another stray to rescue but this one will end up changing his life forever.

When Casey first saw the huge pony tailed biker come towards him back on the road, fear was the first emotion he felt, and then despair, as he had no energy left to run. But the biker, Joe, just takes him home and feeds him. Joe gives Casey food, and shows him the bathroom so he can take a bath and gave him chemicals to use that would combat the lice on his body. And Casey waits to pay the price but Joe never asks for anything in return. Instead Joe offers Casey a home, a place to be safe, finish school, actually be happy after having his parents throw him away for being gay.

Joe’s solitary life starts to fill up with people upon Casey’s arrival. There’s Casey, the social workers, the dogs, and then the cats and Casey’s friends and so many more, year after year. For Casey, happiness means Joe as his crush turns into love as he matures and ages. For Joe, Casey means happiness for him as well. But Joe doesn’t want to feel like he is taking advantage of his position in Casey’s life, so accepting that Casey wants him as a grown man is hard. Harder still it coming to the realization that he wants Casey just as badly as Casey wants him. Nothing in their relationship has ever come easy and moving it to the next stage will take compromises and adjustments neither has had to face before.

Amazing, just absolutely amazing. Amy Lane has given us some memorable books in the past, and with Sidecar, she has done it again. Sidecar is one of my favorite books of 2012 and it will be one of yours too. Just looking at the cover gave me goosebumps at all the emotions it evoked in me. From the sepia tones of the drawing to its central figures connected by love and steel motoring down a forested lane heading towards the light, the tears started to well up even before I even got to the first page. And then the story began and oh what a timeless story is it.

Amy Lane gives us a love story that had already stretched over 25 years when we first meet Casey and Josiah Daniels stopping to rescue a runaway by the side of the road. Then we go back to the beginning of their relationship to that same road, almost at the same spot where Joe meets Casey for the first time under the same circumstances. I will tell you now, grab that box of tissues and don’t let them go, maybe get a second box. You will need them.

Amy Lane is known for her powerful characterizations and equally powerful storylines. Sidecar is full of people who will make you laugh and cry and shake with the repressed desire to knock a few heads together. Everyone you meet within are such fully actualized human beings that it becomes easy to forget yourself in their lives and problems. This story sucks you in and refuses to let you go, even after it is over. Each chapter is a song title from 1987, the year Joe and Casey meet. Lane explains that certain songs will always conjure up memories associated with them for people as I can certainly attest to. Songs are such a great way to bring back those times and places by making the songbook tie in with the locale. 1987 meant big hair, pony tails, Dirty Dancing, U2 and The Joshua Tree album. We had Good Morning, Vietnam, George Michael’s Faith and AIDS looming on the horizon. And then we have the lost children, those thrown out, thrown away by parents, by the church and others because they were gay. Amy Lane brings the plight of the gay kids tossed out like so much garbage home in the character of Casey and kids like Stacia hardened beyond their years given temporary shelter by Joe because it was the decent, good thing to do. I appreciate that Lane gives no easy answers to be doled out here as solutions. Yes, Casey makes it, but others in the book don’t, too emotionally and physically damaged by what they have gone through to survive.

There is also plenty of humor to go with the tears, from their dogs Rufus and Hi Hi Huxtable to the goober hunting nephew of Josiah’s. This is a beautifully balanced story, so the author will give you satisfaction to help cover over the unfairness, and something to smile at while recovering from you last sob. I am thinking of one scene in particular where Casey has found an old stash of weed and proceeds to get high only it doesn’t turn out like he thought it would. I won’t spoil it for you but it is a classic Amy Lane rollercoaster of emotions delivered in a succinct scene. Like I said just amazing.

There is not a single misstep in the way Joe and Casey’s relationship grows and changes either. From Casey’s early attempts to sneak into Joe’s bed and Joe’s kind rejection to the slow realization that Casey has come to mean so much more to Joe than he could ever imagine and the consequences of that love. And there are consequences. For Joe starts out dating women as he is bisexual in nature. Joe wants a family badly and being with a woman in 1987 would make that so much easier than to love Casey. Loving Casey would mean that Joe might have to give up his dream of children, a powerful loss that Lane makes us feel acutely. Joe gives Casey and a teenage date the “condom talk” in a way both heartrending and honest that hurt as I read it. Lane gives us firstrate entertainment even as she informs, she gives us pain and loss then gives us love and healing to counteract them.

It is also rare that we get to see our characters live and grow over a 25 year period to arrive safe, secure, and still so madly in love. Amy Lane gives that to Josiah and Casey and then to the reader as well. How much do I love them both. How much do I love this book. And to remember all I need is that cover and maybe Livin on a Prayer….

Cover Art by Shobana Appavu. What a remarkable cover, one of my favorites of the year as well.

Review of The Melody Thief (Blue Notes #2) by Shira Anthony

Rating: 4.5 stars

Cary Redding is as deeply troubled as he is gifted musically. A world renown cellist sought after by conductors globally, the front Cary presents to others is that of an introspective, music obsessed young man. But inside Cary is haunted by his past, seeking out anonymous gay sex in disreputable bars and drowning his insecurity and anger in alcohol. Cary has so successfully compartmentalized his life that he has two identities. His real one, Cary Redding the musician, and the other is Connor Taylor, gay, slutty, capable only of rough sex in one-night stands. Cary has so little self worth outside of music that he considers himself a liar, a cheat, in fact a melody thief, someone no one would want to listen to if they only knew the truth about him.

It all changes for Cary after he leaves a bar in the early morning hours. Drunk and smelling of sex, Cary gets mugged and his playing arm broken. He is rescued by Antonio Bianchi, entertainment lawyer from Blue Notes #1. Antonio takes Cary to the hospital and then home with him to recuperate. The problem is that Cary has told Antonio his name is Conner Taylor, his alter ego, and the more Cary gets to know Antonio, the more he wants in terms of a relationship. Antonio wants a real romance between them to as well as Antonio’s son, Massi. Antonio and Massi are a package deal, one that Cary finds he wants. But first he has to tell Antonio the truth and see if Antonio can forgive him for the lies. And Cary still has his inner battle to win over his past and insecurities. Only Cary knows if the melody thief will win out or if he will find the path to love.

The Melody Thief is the second in Shira Anthony’s series that revolves around the world of music, from the conductors to the musicians to the entertainment lawyers who represent them and what a fascinating series it is turning out to be. Blue Notes was the first in the series and in that book the focus was on violinist Jules and lawyer Jason, and Paris. Here we switch locations to Milan, the musician is a cellist and Antonio, an entertainment lawyer who we met briefly in Blue Notes, is back in a lead role. One of the elements that makes this such a rich series, especially for music lovers, is that Shira Anthony comes from a music family, and has a deep background herself as a violinist and opera singer. So when Anthony’s characters wax poetic about ‘Brahms Double Concerto’ for cello, violin, and orchestra or when Cary recalls his emotions when playing ‘Dvorak Cello Concerto in B Minor’,they do so realistically and intelligently. And the reader can’t help but appreciate that it is because Anthony understands the music herself, having practiced and played it over and over again. Her experience gives such depth to the musicians here and the life they must lead in order to rise to the top of the field that our understanding of the discipline it takes becomes much clearer. It is not enough to be gifted, one must also be driven as well. To have the music be an all encompassing part of your life has a price, and Anthony brings this theme throughout her series, as all the characters must look at their lives, past, present and future and balance it out with their obsessive need to play and be heard.

Characterizations are also a strong point with Shira Anthony. Cary/Conner is such a torn, angry young man whose past and his relationship with his mother continues to cast a bitter hue over everything he is and does. Brought up by a widowed mother as driven as he was, all he can recall of his childhood is playing, practice and concerts with nary a stop to celebrate his birthday. And when his mother called his gayness a “perversion” and told him he could not both play and be a monster when he came out to her at 16, then the hurt and anger he felt at her was directed inward at himself. And so the melody thief was born. Someone who lied about who he was, someone who flirted with alcohol addiction, someone who never felt worthy of the acclaim accorded him over his gift, his cello. A complex, hurting man locked into a pattern from childhood, Cary has to continually work on himself to accept the mature Cary while trying to forgive and understand his mother and his upbringing. I loved Cary. Antonio too has his burdens which include major spoilers for the story. But they are as heavy and authentic as Cary’s. Antonio has loved and lost and is much better equipped to deal with relationship issues. He works hard to keep Cary in his life as Cary doesn’t have all the skills to realize that relationships need communication as well as love in the sheets. Massimo, Antonio’s son (with his childhood best friend and her partner) is adorable and just like any other 5 year old I have know. From character to character, we have real, caring, less than perfect people to listen to and entrust with our affections throughout the story.

As she did with Paris, Milan comes alive on our pages too. The small cafes, the walkways and parks, the warmth of the buildings and the age of the city contribute to the overall pastiche of old world charm, art and the music that makes up Milan. It made me want to board a plane immediately to its environs.

There is very little to quibble about here. A few of the issues I saw with Blue Notes, like too many references to “older man, younger man” are missing here, which makes sense given the two men are closer in age. But the descriptions work much better with Antonio and Cary than they did with Jules and Jason. I do wish we had a little more of the music here as we did in Blue Notes but the scores she does bring up are so incredible beautiful that I enjoyed listening to them again as I read the book. The author always includes a playlist for her story. Listed below is the playlist for The Melody Thief. There are at least 3 more books she plans to write in this series. Aria (Blue Notes #3) is coming out in December and features Aiden and Sam who are both briefly mentioned here. I can’t wait.

Pick up this book, settle in,and cue up the iTunes with Dvork, Brahms and Beethoven. I just know you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Cover: Catt Ford was the cover artist and this is perfection from the two models standing in for Antonio and Cary, down to the Italian countryside and Massimo with his airplane.

Here is the series in order they were written. However, they do not have to be read in sequence in order to appreciate the stories and the characters:

Blue Notes (Blue Notes #1) Jules and Jason

The Melody Thief (Blue Notes #2) Antonio and Cary

Aria (Blue Notes #3) Aiden and Sam. coming in December 2012

Shira Anthony’s Soundtrack for The Melody Thief with links found here:

Musical Soundtrack for “The Melody Thief”

Dvorak Cello Concerto in B Minor -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftNQzZ8NkRY&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL9B8486D6CDA7F362 (Yo-Yo Ma, Lorin Maazel)

Dvorak “New World Symphony” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuqyfEyNXQo&feature=related

Elgar Cello Concerto -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM9DPfp7-Ck (and this one is with the Chicago Symphony!)

Bach Cello Suite 2 (Prelude) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSheWcRGbF0 (Mstislav Rostropovich) or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXGLrZMrpuw&feature=watch_response (Yo-Yo Ma)

Brahms Double Concerto – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WKpSDBvn9w (Rostropovitch and Oistrakh, two of the best ever) or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRMeyDdplj4 (Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma)

Review of Making Contact Anthology

Rating: 4.25 – 4.5 stars

Space, the final frontier, as a certain well known Federation Captain would say on his 5-year mission into space, has always consumed our thoughts and dreams. We have always wanted to know what is out there, its vastness and mystery ever present. All we need to do is look up to be faced with the unknown. How will we get there and what or whom will we meet once we do are questions innumerable authors have tried to answer in poems, movies, stories and graphic novels. Making Contact is a new science fiction anthology from Dreamspinner Press that examines some of those questions along with what type of love will be found among the stars?

Making Contact gives us ten stories by eight authors. The stories range from aliens attempting to “fit it=n” among the human inhabitants when they arrive on Earth, humans trying to live in isolation on a lonely outpost, intergalactic conflicts among the races, an alien drunk tank and pirates in space. There is humor, mystery, heartbreak, and a swashbuckling yarn of space pirates and derring do.

I found this to be a really strong anthology and the variety of stories and themes keep me glued to the Kindle one after another. Don’t expect cohesion other than the fact that they fall under the science fiction m/m banner. Just a look at the authors represented should tell you that their visions of space are as unique as they are. Their narratives explore space from so many different perspectives. The first story, Better Than Cola by JL Merrow is the only one to feature an alien so far removed from the humanoid mold that the author had to come up with an equally alien method of sexual exchange. I loved this story as it left me with more questions running around my head than was answered. Some of the aliens are recognizable in form that the authors have put their own twist to, aliens with fur, aliens with different skins tones and facial markings, and even a new take on vampires in space that will break your heart as it did mine.

Normally when I review anthologies, I only mention the stories I loved. In Making Contact, that includes them all in varying degrees. Here they are in the order they appear in the book.

Better Than Cola By JL Merrow

Newly arrived on Earth to work in the Melliti embassy, Summer Storms meets Nathan Chambers, who is tasked with teaching the alien visitor how to deal with human social interaction. The thrill of casual touch exposes an immediate attraction between them, but how far can intimacy go between two totally different life forms?

JL Merrow has done a fantastic job of giving us an alien so far removed from us but still one whose thoughts and emotions can stir attraction in another. Summer Storms is a plurality of beings contained inside a “human shaped envelope”. They have to adjust themselves to casual human touch and the way in which their “envelope” reacts to the human sent to help them deal with interspecies interaction. This story has so much charm while still being sexy and alien. Merrow left me wanting to know more about their physiology and culture while giving me a satisfactory glimpse into the unknown.

Revolving Realities By Cari Z.

Dr. Eliot Hollister is desperate to locate the Ulysses and her crew before tragedy strikes… again. The lone survivor of a hostile attack compounded by human error, Eliot is using an alien artifact to search through alternate realities, trying to change the outcome in a parallel dimension. Eliot’s challenge once he finds the ship? Convince Captain Paul Alvarez he’s for real before the Ulysses falls prey to the same trap.

Cari Z brings alternate universes into play with her story of a lone survivor grabbing as a last chance to save his lover from death, even if it is not his actual lover, but the man he is in another universe. Wonderful characterizations play off against time as Eliot tries to stop the scenario from playing out again in the new universe but runs up against the same scientist hell bent on exploring the world beneath them. His frustrations become ours because we know what will happen if he can’t stop the mission. My only quibble is that it ended too soon.

The Sacrifice By Sue Brown

After twelve years, the leaders of the Free Worlds have finally found a man willing to sacrifice his life to the gods of Segelian to ensure an alliance with the mineral-rich planet. But when Stane raises the dagger to perform the rite, he looks into the human Steven’s eyes and is horrified to discover he is destined to kill his life partner. If Stane doesn’t complete the ritual, it will destroy any chance for a treaty… and it might also change the world of Segelian forever.

Sue Brown uses two worlds, one homophobic (human), one a male/male warrior culture and the extended war between them that will end with a human sacrifice. She does a nice job of world building including a world divided by religious caste and the warrior caste and makes us believe it. I loved Stane and Steven however implausible the final intervention.

Alone By Andrea Speed

Scientist Logan Murakami doesn’t have much to keep him company during his lonely vigil at Outpost Proserpina. But he knew that going in, and it’s the perfect place to focus solely on his work: a neuro-optical interface that would be the perfect engine for artificial intelligence… an intelligence that Logan hopes is taking on a life of its own.

What I loved most about this story is that it plays out internally in the mind of Logan Murakami. Solitude and remoteness are definitely two of the factors to be considered when talking about space travel. How to achieve it, do we need a base of operations to extend our exploration? And what type of person will be able to handle those conditions? All compelling questions that need viable answers and Speed attempts to provide some of them in the person of Logan Murakami. Raised in isolation in Alaska and solitary by nature, he unexpectedly ends up alone at the outpost and uses this time to perfect his neuro-optical interface with the goal of having it attain intelligence. What happens exceeds his expectations and gives him something so much more. Just outstanding.

Losing Sight of the Shore By Emily Moreton

Secondary communications officer Jay is assigned to a boarding crew when the Hydra discovers a seemingly abandoned, powerless ship floating in space. While exploring the derelict ship, Jay finds a barely conscious man with purple skin and silver eyes. After surviving a raider attack, Felix is understandably afraid to let Jay go—even when cultural differences threaten to stop any contact between them.

Moreton gives us romance in space that emerges from survivors of an attack upon their ship. I liked the romance even if I wanted a little more of the alien culture and history of the purple skinned people living in ships among the stars. I got some lovely bits of characterization from Jay and the other members of the crew, I just wish I felt I got the same result from the aliens. A really sweet story that could have been fleshed out a little more to make it absolutely terrific.

Gifted in Tongues By JL Merrow

After inadvertently outraging local sensibilities, space pilot Torvald “Spitz” Spitzbergen faces a five-year stretch in a Lacertilian jail. His only consolation is trading insults with his cellmate, Tao, a six-foot libidinous Felid. But Tao seems to have a distinctly fuzzy understanding of the difference between fighting and foreplay…

Merrow gives us an alien drunk tank! How could you not love this? Spitz seems like the very type to get his drunk on, outrage the locals, and be very surprised to find himself with the remains of a hangover, two very different cell mates and the worst morning after he has had in a while. I chuckled throughout this story, Merrow’s descriptions painting the scene so perfectly that I had no problems picturing it all as it happens. Cracked me up, made me blush, and left me wanting more. Now if only I can talk the author into bringing Spitz and Tao back for further adventures. Pretty please?

Analytic Geometry By Andi Deacon

Kevin Ikoro has an incredible opportunity: his boss at Helix Multicorp wants an analyst’s view of how the corporation’s Exploration division works, and Kevin is now a member of explorer team Alpha 3IG. His teammates, a set of brilliant twins named Cameron and Theo Banark, are fascinating, and Kevin finds himself harboring a serious case of lust for Cameron. But exploration is unpredictable, and his teammates may not be what they seem. The shortest distance between two bodies isn’t always a straight line.

Another neat story full of twists that added dimension and depth to this little space gem. I don’t want to go into this except that I loved the characters where the attraction of the mind trumps attraction of the body. Sexy, humorous and with a little bit of mystery thrown in. Again the characters that Deacon creates here are so terrific, so unique that as the end I wanted so much more. The surprise alone is worth the story but it is the family that is forming that captures my interest, imagination and heart. Just a great job.

The Monsters Below By Lyn Gala

Brai’s never dreamed of fighting the monstrous sub-humans who infest Kestia, but when his lover joins the service, Brai does what he always does… he follows. Then Rick is lost on his first mission, and Brai is left alone in a murderous rage. Now on his own first mission gone terribly wrong, Brai has his chance to get back at the monsters for killing Rick—only the government hasn’t been honest about the nature of the enemy, and Brai might find that the caves hide a secret that could change his life.

I was not prepared for the heartbreak that is this story. Lyn Gala gives us an intense, knuckle biter of an update of vampires in space and makes it hurt even as the characters bleed out and die. Again for me to go into detail would ruin it but Gala’s characters are beautifully realized and the situation they find themselves in so dire that our hearts and minds are caught up in their plight immediately. This story kept me up and thinking into the wee hours of the morning.

Feral By K.R. Foster

Desperate to end a war, the king of the Lunar Pryde agrees to submit one of his offspring to mate with a member of the Sol Pryde royal line. Cynfael, prince of the Lunar Pryde, fled the planet six months ago searching for freedom, and nothing could convince him to return… except his father’s threat to marry off Cynfael’s twelve-year-old sister Adara. After fighting for freedom his entire life, Cynfael must return to Starion to face his unknown mate and an equally unknown future.

What is it about felids or specifically felids that walk upright with many of the same emotions and thoughts of humans that captures our imagination so? I kept running across so many of them from author after author and genre after genre. Still, I end of loving them all. Feral is Foster’s newest addition to felids in space. Cynfael is another prince being forced to wed the son of warring royal line and bring peace to the planet they inhabit. There are so many nice touches here from Cynfael’s ability to communicate with the planet to a comb made of filed down teeth that I wanted an extended version to fill in the gaps left by the story. We are left in the dark about the loss of Cynfael’s mother, the war ongoing, the purity of his genes (does it relate to his color?) and so much more. A little more volume was needed to add layers to an intriguing tale.

Ganymede’s Honor By Cornelia Grey

Colonel Ardeth Connor has been rescued from death, but he’s not sure his new life is any better: he’s effectively trapped aboard a rebel ship that defies the Federation to collect ice meteors, stealing life-sustaining water for the poorest of planets and asteroids. As an anonymous part of Captain Gabriel’s crew, Ardeth is biding his time until he can escape… and learning there’s more to space than just the Federation.

This story reminded me so much of an interview I just saw with an astrophysicist. She was talking about space travel, space ships and the Tardis. Ok, yes, I am a geek. I make no bones about it. She was talking about the fact that our modes of transportation in space didn’t need to be those sleek versions that populate the page and movie screen, that we could travel about in something as funky as a phone booth or a Rubic’s Cube. On in this case, a space galleon similar to those that rode the waves way back when. I loved this story. It left me smiling for hours just picturing the Ganymede under her solar sails in search of meteorites to capture. Cornelia Grey’s story gives us pirates in space or should that be rebels in space and turns it into a swashbuckling story of love, sexy rebel captains who shouts to his crew ‘Unwind those cables, bunch of useless yobs!” as they prepare to harpoon a ice meteoroid out of a swarm, and his crew man the sails and chains as the ship rockets under them. What a scene, what a crew! It got the blood boiling, the eyes wild, the heart pounding…..oh how I wanted to be on the ship with them and maybe snuggled up against Ardeth and Gabriel, just saying. I do have a thing for his tats.

And just the idea of a galleon sailing through space, the stars all around her…that’s magic right there. Grey’s story hit a lot of my buttons and left me cheering the crew on to great glory and many more stories. I feel much the same about every author here with their diverse take on space and making contact. I loved their stories, I wanted more of their aliens and human interaction. I hope this spawns even more novels featuring the being that made me laugh, made me cry and made me exult that space means no boundaries of any sort. No boundaries to the imagination and no boundaries as to who we can love and be loved by in return. More please. Much, much more. Engage.

Cover art by Analise Dubner, cover design by Mara McKennen. Love the cover, great colors and a catchy design.

Review of Play It Again, Charlie by R. Cooper

Rating: 4.75 stars

Pushing forty, Charlie Howard’s life is caught in a pattern of pain and routine. After a disabling accident left Charlie’s body more broken than able, he retired from the force and became a professor at a community college teaching criminal justice and forensics. The aftermath of the accident did more than leave him with almost crippling pain, it deprived him of his boyfriend as well. One who wouldn’t stick around for his surgeries and recovery. Charlie’s days are filled with phone calls from his sisters, teaching and chats with his friend and co worker. Jeanine.

The days merge together and Charlie watches the world pass by from his apartment in the building owned by his grandmother. Charlie is afraid to move forward with his life, hiding behind a wall of “I’m Fine” until he meets a haircolorist named William housesiting for Charlie’s third floor neighbor. From the moment that Will drops a flower pot off the balcony that lands at Charlie’s feet, the fey, flamboyant man seems determined to invade Charlie’s life. Glitter twinkling around the eyes, and hands always fluttering in motion, Will seems like the very embodiment of transience to Charlie. But to Charlie’s consternation, everything about Will speaks to Charlie too. He wants to protect him, make him safe, kiss him and so much more. Lucky for Charlie, Will wants much the same from him. Their quick bed room encounters start looking more like dates and their feelings for each other deepen even as they go unexpressed. Both men must overcome their pasts before a new future can be written for them both. Only time will tell if they are up to the challenge.

In a genre populated with stories of instant love and relationships that just fall into place, Play It Again, Charlie is that gem of a novel where love is hard won, a relationship develops at a snail’s pace, and only after two totally different, difficult men learn to communicate. This novel is long, frustrating, irritating, illuminating, and so very satisfying at 370 pages. Even more impressive, the story gets better with each subsequent read, as the reader is now familiar with the flow of the dialog and the reticence of it’s main character so that many qualities you might have missed the first time around now shine through even more brightly. There are so many strengths to this book, it is hard to know where to start.

Cooper’s characters are the pillars upon which this story rests, and their shoulders are most definitely up to the task. Each could have been a caricature but in Cooper’s hands, they thrive, breathe and grow into our hearts. Charlie Howard is especially impressive. There is so much depth to Charlie that clarity of character comes together only over a length of time. The story is told from Charlie’s POV and when we meet him, Charlie is graying, his face lined from the ever present pain radiating out from his hip, his hair has gotten long due to lack of care, and the suits he wears to class present a formal ill-pressed exterior, complete with bad ties. His injury forces him to leave the police force and his “cop social circle” behind and he retreats in isolation to his apartment. Charlie take his responsibilities seriously and shoulders the weight of his family’s needs without complaint. Repressed, honorable, and hurting. Charlie is such a complex man that it is hard to get a feel for how he really looks to those around him, caught up in his own vision of himself. It’s Charlie’s self image that’s presented initially to the reader. It’s not until William, “Will” as it were, comes into play, that we start to see Charlie as others do. Then a whole new portrait of the man is revealed, tall, handsome, firm, gentle, and partly Hispanic. Charlie is that wonderful character that continues to reveal itself as the barriers he constructed peel away to give us an even more complex personality far more vulnerable that we had anticipated.

Will is that “twink persona” that is heartbreakingly beautiful in his insecurities, brash in his embrace of his sexuality, and charming in his endless enthusiasm for life. Will is twenty nine when we meet him,although he comes across as much younger, flitting from one temporary home to another, never really landing anywhere for long. Even his business is run over the internet and is conducted at other peoples homes. Kicked out of his house at the age of 16 by parents who refuse to accept his sexuality, Will has only his sister to fall back on. Referred to more than once as “Holly Go Lightly”, that character is certainly applicable when it comes to Will. Will loves the old classic movies, preferably black and white with a cast that includes Humphrey Bogart. Stylish and fragile, impetuous and flighty, he parties hard, works harder and has little time for permanence in relationships. He also comes with Daddy issues and a vast amount of insecurity regarding his lack of education and “smarts”. But he watches Charlie from the balcony above as Charlie goes about his routine and something about Charlie calls to him, makes him want to push his way into “Sergeant Howard’s ” life in any way he can. Will is immediately engaging, capturing our hearts along with our hopes for his happiness. Watching Will try to win over Charlie’s wary, grumpy cat speaks volumes about the character and we trust him with our affections.

Will is that perfect match for Charlie. If Will is Holly Go Lightly, then Charlie is Linus Larrabee (that would be the Humphrey Bogart version, not the Harrison Ford one). Will has watched the movies. Charlie has read the books they were based on. Even their sexuality is yin to the other’s yang. But what they really have in common is an inability to communicate their wants and hopes to each other. Charlie is so reticent as to be non verbal at times, Will is his opposite, hiding his feelings and hopes behind constant chatter. Neither man is willing to risk the tentative stage they are at by talking to the other about what they really want to have in a relationship. It is so frustratingly real, so irritatingly authentic that the reader is often left wanting to deliver a strong slap up the head to each by the end of a page or chapter. When you find yourself grinding your teeth as the characters prevaricate about their feelings, then you know the author has done an outstanding job. R. Cooper does that outstanding job and then some. I now feel the need for major dental work having finished the book twice.

There is some kink involved, but it is on the light side, and made wholly believable in the context. Even the sexual side of their relationship lacks the communication they so badly need, as each starts assuming things about what the other wants and desires. Both men are as uncommunicative in bed as they are elsewhere, which makes complete sense given who they are. Insert another teeth grinding session. Sometimes their dialog feels so intimate that reading it comes across almost voyeuristic in nature, so close do we feel to them both. Everything about these men and their story will strike you as realistic, and uncompromisingly truthful.

Trust me when I say that this is a long, drawn out novel, but also trust me when I say it is wonderful, worthy of the time spent, and one you will remember and return to. This was the first book I have read by R. Cooper and now I will be searching out the rest. Do not let this remarkable story pass you by. Get it, curl up somewhere, and prepare to be transported into an unlikely love affair, worthy of Bogart and Bacall. or perhaps Audrey Hepburn. Will never could make up his mind.

Cover is nice. But Will’s hand needs a little polish, a little more sparkle.

Book available at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and All Romance.

Sunday After The Storm, September Thoughts and The Week Ahead in Reviews

Well, that wasn’t a fun night for anyone around here in Maryland, or even straight up the coast and into NYC. High winds, tornados, hail, and rain, lots and lots of rain. Our neighborhood was without power for about 8 hours, but at least we did not have tornados to deal with, as others in Maryland, Virginia and NYC did. Other than some branches falling, we came out of it rather well. I wish I could say the same for others. Nature is all stirred up and doing something about it. Perhaps we should listen a little harder to what she is trying to tell us. Just a thought. Now on to more pleasant things….

September always seems to me to be the reset month. Summer has ended but Autumn has yet to make it’s appearance. September is the breather between the two. September gives us time to gather our thoughts, to recollect on Summer doings and to think ahead and plan for Fall. For a gardener, it can be such a busy time. Hydrangeas need fertilizing and mulching in, so do the roses, some of which are still blooming. Trees get to be trimmed, old vegetables dug up and composted while still remembering to refill the hummingbird feeders for the last of the migrants on their way south. Some flowers will be left standing, their seed-heads offering food to Goldfinches and the like. The windows will open and Kirby will be the first there to rest his head on the windowsill, contemplating the birds, and squirrels, and the hawks circling in the sky above. The geese honk overhead, hurrying their way to the Marshlands as a few leaves turn yellow and drop. I love this time of year. I have time to smell the last rose, put mums in the planters, and admire the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds skimming through the gardens, visiting the feeders before their long journey ahead. Less humidity means more time spent outside, reading, observing, and enjoying the cooler breezes. I hope you all are doing the same.

Here is the week ahead in Reviews:

Monday: Play It Again, Charlie by R. Cooper

Tuesday: Alone in the Crowd (Cattle Valley #27) by Carol Lynne

Wednesday: Love in La Terreza by Ethan Day

Thursday: Unconventional At Best Anthology

Friday: Love, Hypothetically by Anne Tenino

Saturday: Life As A Fairy Thrall (Fairy Compacts #2) by Katey Hawthorne

Review of One Day at a Time by Dawn Douglas

Rating: 4 stars

Homeland Agent Pete Olivera is only on loan to the Evansville Police Department. Temporary assignments mean going in doing the job and getting out, no emotional entanglements needed or wanted. Then Officer Joseph West shoots a young boy in self defense and Olivera’s self isolation is compromised by his need to help Pete through the trauma he knows the young officer is going through. Olivera understands the crushing guilt and pain West is feeling because he has been there himself.

Olivera shows up on West’s doorstep and hauls Joe away to Olivera’s rustic cabin in an effect to help Joe comes to terms with the shooting. Peter’s empathy for Joe starts to turn into a deeper emotion that Joe returns, A single redemptive weekend has given the men a chance at a relationship and peace if only they will allow themselves to grab at it.

At 65 pages, Dawn Douglas gives us an intense glimpse into the traumatic beginnings of a relationship between two men working in law enforcement. One, Pete Olivera, is a hardened experienced agent. Olivera rose out of the Hispanic ghettos of Los Angeles, served in Afghanistan before returning to the States and working in Homeland Security. A solitary man by choice, he is still able to recognize the depths of Joe’s pain and want to help. Joseph West is younger with less experience and time on the force. He has coached baseball teams made up of troubled kids and dreamed of working in the Gang unit of the Evansville PD. When the youth he shoots in self defense turns out to be someone he once coached, the pain and guilt is trebled and he crumbles. Dawn Douglas makes it all feel so real. The portraits she paints of these two men are undeniably some of the most realistic short story characterizations I have read. Joseph West’s pain is palpable and you can feel the weary wisdom that experience has given Pete Olivera. The cabin is the perfect location for West’s intervention and the descriptions of the rustic setting add the right amount of isolation and peace necessary for it to work. The author gives us real men, the situation is one we read about daily in the papers, and makes their shared pain that brings them together understandable and easy to empathize with.

Douglas gets all the details right, including Pete’s remote cabin where he goes for peace and quiet whenever possible. With every moment the men and Joe’s dog, Jack, share out in the woods they allow themselves to open up to each other and the possibility of a continuing relationship. Every hesitant step forward is so beautifully portrayed and always in keeping with the established personas. No instant love, no overly romantic prose between the men, just authentic dialog and small moments that keep adding up page after page until we reach a totally satisfactory and believable end. I kept flipping back and going over certain sections, admiring how the author brought character and scene together in a great cohesive portrait of pain and quilt absolved, if only temporarily.

This was the first story I have read by Douglas. I am going to immediately seek out more. I admire and recommend One Day At A Time and can’t wait to see what she will do next.

Cover: LC Chase is the artist for this remarkable cover. The naked torsos are offset by the lovely painting of the cabin at the bottom of the cover. Everything is just right. Great job.

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