Tag: GLBTQ fiction

Review of Gregori’s Ghost by Sarah Black

Rating: 5 stars

Gregori's GhostDr. Steven Russell’s grandfather, Charlie,  is dying. And in his pain, Charlie keeps calling out two mens names, that of Gregori and Alexi.  When Steven asks who those men are Charlie begins to tell his grandson a story, one he has never heard before, that of Charlie’s time in the Army in WWII. Charlie tells Steven that when he meet a Ukrainian war photographer, his live divided into two parts, that of “before Gregori and after Gregori”. Charlie tells Steven a horrific story of a mass execution that Gregori photographed and asks Steven to bring Gregori’s old camera to him in the hospital.  Charlie also gets Steven to promise to find  Alexi, Gregori’s grandson and make sure he is safe.  But when Steven returns to the hospital with the camera, his grandfather has already died and Steven has a promise to keep.

But there is so much more going on than just a promise.  When Steven pulled out the camera from its storage place, he noticed its mint condition and looked into the lens.  To his utter astonishment, he sees exactly what Gregori saw that day in the Katyn Forest when over 23,000 people were slaughtered and dumped in a mass burial to be hidden.  Steven can smell the oder of the guns and feel the cold creep into his bones.  Looking into the camera, he is there with Gregori as it happens.  And then Gregory and Charlie start to speak to him and tell Steven that he has to help Alexi right the wrongs and save the spirits of the two old men.

All his life, Steven has lead a self indulgent, golden life.  Now to honor his  promise to Charlie, he must leave it all behind to go to the Ukraine to find Alexi Temchanko  a Ukrainian journalist investigating the old crime.  While they have never met, they have talked on the phone, and the attraction Steven feels for the journalist is unsettling as is the fact that Gregori is still speaking to him, telling him that time is running out and Alexi is in danger.  There are people all around them trying to stop the truth from coming out.  Will Steven get to Alexi in time to save him and honor his promise to the ghosts of two men depending upon him as well?

Gregori’s Ghost is a wonder of a story on so many levels.  We have an historical element based on fact, that of Katyn massacre, a mass execution of Polish citizens in 1940.  Then around this monstrous crime Black builds a tale of family, obligation, honor and love.  Sarah Black is an expert on old men, as crazy as that sounds.  She knows how they sound and how they move and her characters resonate with authenticity of age and knowledge, how I loved Gregori and Charlie. But  Steven Russell is something of a new character for her.  He is a “golden boy”, a neurologist who is emotionally removed from everyone around him with the exception of his grandfather, who sees the true Steven.  He is a bit of a cad, taking from lovers and never giving of himself.  But Black takes this unlovable character and makes him grow and discard his shallow lifestyle to carry out his grandfather’s wishes. But there is no personality transplant but a realistic difficult change that Steven has to undergo.  It is just so very well done that I came to like Steven by the end of the story.  But Gregori’s Ghost is peopled with characters you will come to love and entrust with your affections, including Gregori and Charlie, the two entwined men who start it all.

On top of her characterizations, Sarah Black gives us a mystical element, that of the ghosts or spirits of Gregori and Charlie who continue to talk or berate Steven into action.  The author gives her ghosts as many layers as her living persons, right down to their sexuality as well.  Gregori finds himself tempted by the gorgeous Steven and gives in to their mutual sexual needs in several stirring scenes.  How you feel about the supernatural might dictate what you feel about this part of the book, but I ask  you to just go with it because the end is worth it all.

But most impressive is that Gregori’s Ghost is so different in that her traditional love of the land is missing here. Unlike all her other books where the characters are as wedded to the land as they are to each other, here the landscape is reduced to a minor supporting role.  Instead of the land being the characters foundation, it is each other that provides the emotional and mental support they need to go forward.  With the exception of Steven, Alexi, Gregori, and Charlie are men who by their nature and the circumstances they find themselves in, are men pared down to their core.  In pain, dying, they still act with honor and determination, something Steven learns along the way.  Like I said , a remarkable book.  Now this great book is free at All Romance Books.  Find it here and download it for free.  Run, don’t walk to the nearest computer and get it.  I hope you will love it as much as I do.  And while you are there, pick up some other Sarah Black books, starting with Marathon Cowboys. You will want them all.

Author Spotlight: Sarah Black

 

The Legend of the Apache Kid by Sarah Black , review here

Marathon Cowboys by Sarah Black, review here

Review of Acceleration (Impulse #2) by Amelia C. Gormley

Rating: 5 stars

Acceleration book coverQuiet, down-to-earth Detroit handyman Derrick Chance is still adjusting to the fact that he has a boyfriend.  Gavin Hayes is a wonder to him.  Gavin is gorgeous, loving, outgoing with tons of friends and a job he loves.  True, Gavin comes with an ex-boyfriend with a hideous outlook on AIDS/HIV who not only raped Gavin but maybe even gave him the AIDS virus too. Derrick tries not to dwell on this side of his new lover but inside him a small voice reminds him that everyone leaves Derrick and Gavin will too if his tests turn out to be positive.  Not a good thing to hide from his lover.

Gavin is a wonderful and inventive lover.  Derrick appreciates that because as a virginal 30 year old, he had no frame of reference to work with.  But Gavin is happy to teach him things about himself through sex and their sex life couldn’t be better.  Now if only Gavin and Derrick could say the same about the other areas of their burgeoning relationship.  A life of caring for his ailing grandparents has left Derrick almost completely nonverbal.  He has no idea how to share his inner thoughts and parts of himself with Gavin and Gavin is getting increasingly frustrated with him.  Gavin has shared everything about himself with Derrick and expects Derrick to do the same, to Derrick’s consternation and horror.

After his last partner, Gavin never again wants to have a partner who won’t share everything about himself with Gavin.  Gavin needs someone who will be open about himself and there for Gavin when he needs them. And Gavin thought that Derrick was that man but he can’t seem to get Derrick to open up and share himself with Gavin, no matter what  Gavin has tried.  Derrick has had so little control in his life, that when his grandparents died and he regained his life and life choices, he finds himself unable to give that control up to anyone, except maybe in bed.  But the thought of letting Gavin into his life, into areas where he is vulnerable, areas he has kept sealed off, well Derrick is not sure if he even wants to try.  To keep their relationship accelerating and their newfound love alive, can Gavin and Derrick adjust enough,compromise enough to be  the man each other wants and needs.

I had wondered how Amelia C. Gormley was going to follow up her wonderful first novel, Inertia (Impulse #1).  If her characters would continue to keep me absorbed in their story and the momentum that was building to a meaningful relationship.  Well, I shouldn’t have worried, Acceleration (Impulse #2) is a wonder of a novel all on its own and an marvelous sequel to a book I loved.

Gormley has given us two magnetic and endearing characters as the foundations to her stories.  Derrick Chance is especially captivating.  He has so many unexpected facets to his personality that it just amazes me as each new one is revealed.  Here is a man arrested emotionally and socially at an early age.  Through the deaths of every important person to him, his parents, his maternal grandmother and grandfather, then his only brother and finally his other grandparents, from the youngest age he has submerged his wants, his very socialization to care for his family, spending much of his adolescence and teenage years in hospitals and then through sleepless nights at home.  And finally at the age of 30, he starts to look outward from his isolated life in his grandparents house and finds Gavin.  Oh my, what an incredible journey Gormley has set Derrick and the reader on….no less than the blooming inner and outer life of a closed off individual.  Then she partners him off with Gavin Hayes, a man equally complex who carries with him a backstory of pain, abuse, and insecurity.

Gavin is a sexually aggressive man who has been made to feel embarrassed and ashamed about his need for a little pain and roughness in his lovemaking.  When Derrick and Gavin come together sexually for the first time, it is a restrained affair.  Derrick is a virgin and awkward in his lack of knowledge.  Gavin is possibly HIV positive, he is awaiting his results of his test.  The virus would have been transmitted by his exboyfriend on purpose, a fact that devastated Gavin and left him reeling emotionally. So you can well imagine what a tentative affair that should have been, but like everything  else in these books what came next surprised, delighted, was incredibly hot and demonstrated how the author intended to go about her compelling tale of love and growth.

Acceleration sees an “quickening” to their sexual life and what a life that is turning out to be.  Gavin and Derrick are venturing into bdsm and adding  pain to the mixture of dominance and submission. As a reader, let me say that this is not something I normally would read, nor am I knowledgeable about the lifestyle but Gormley makes their forays into bdsm completely understandable, especially given their  personalities and background. If this makes you uncomfortable, let me say that it is related in a way that not only makes sense for the characters and fits in easily with their story, which is the relationship growing between these two remarkable men. Don’t let that keep you away from this marvelous series.

Do not expect caterwauling angst or scenes of high drama, that would be out of character for both Gavin and Derrick.  No, what we are given is a realistic look at the bonds and relationship dynamics of two very different men who have fallen in love.  It is clear that love is not going to be enough to make this partnership succeed, the men have been through too much for that to happen and feel authentic.  Instead we get the normal fights any couple gets into, over communication issues, and how to meld friends and lives.  All wonderfully normal and yet in Gormley’s hands, still very exciting, full of doubts and anxiety of their future together.

As the title  states, here we have the relationship as it accelerates into  unknown waters of commitment and long term planning.  Gavin’s boyfriend returns briefly in this book, in a funny episode that shows how deep are the still waters that exist within our wonderful Derrick.  How I loved that scene.  There are so many more great scenes I could relate but I feel that would take the joy of discovery away from the reader, and this is so good, I cannot bear to have that happen.  Gormley gets it all right in her Impulse series, from the characterizations to the unique “voices” she has created for two men that capture our hearts and imaginations.  When Acceleration ended, all I could think of what, “ok, what happens next?”.  I want to know where our guys go from here?  At the end of this book, they have made a commitment to a major change in their lives but there are some powerful elements stirring, one especially is fraught with danger for Derrick, who in his complete innocence, doesn’t begin to understand the hate behind homophobia.

S o run, don’t walk to the computer and grab up this eBook for yourself.  If you are new to this trilogy, go to the beginning and start with Inertia (Impluse #1) and then move on to this one.  This series is one of my best for 2012 and the author quickly adding herself to my must buy list. You won’t be sorry, I promise you.

Love this cover by Kerry Chin. Dramatic,  erotic, just perfect.

This is the Impulse trilogy in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and the events within:

Inertia (Impulse #1) read my review here.

Acceleration (Impulse #2)

Too Careful By Half (a Roughstock story) by BA Tortuga

Rating: 5 stars

Too Careful By Half, a Roughstock StorySam and Beau are both still dealing with the aftermath of Sam’s brain injury during a bull ride.  Beau is still so scared that he almost lost the man he loves, that he has been treating Sam as though he were made of glass, something he never would have done when Sam was healthy.Sam too is trying to deal with his brain injuries, his communication problems as the words he wants to say aren’t the words that comes out of his mouth, and on top of that, Beau is acting like he is going to break apart at any second.  And Sam has had enough.  Six months into his rehab, and Sam is ready for a trip back to normal, and that includes their more than healthy sex life.

How do I love these Roughstock stories and their cowboys?  Let me count the ways. First comes their authenticity.  When the words rolls out of their mouths, it is never less than perfect.  BA Tortuga has the finest ear I know of for regional slang and sentence structure so when her cowboys talk, I know that is what the cowboys sound like from their accents to the word choices.  Just perfection in every way.  Secondly, especially when it comes to her long established couples like Sam and Beau, the reader gets that they have been together for a while, its there is the way they move about each other, the touches they pass back and forth, and the “knowing” of each other that BA Tortuga has built into her story.  It’s as effortless as watching any long term couple you know relate to each other, small gestures, non verbal communication, it’s all there.

I have followed this pair from the beginning through the shock and pain of Sam’s accident in the ring so each new glimpse into their  post accident life is a treasure for me.  Here  we find them six months after the bull stomped on Sam’s skull, and they are dealing with the changes in their lives the best way they know how.  Everything they do and feel comes across so real, that when Beau runs his hand gently over the scarred skin of Sam’s head and feels the divot where part of his skull had to be removed, we feel his pain and sadness just as acutely as he does.  And when finally Sam gets Beau to “hunt his ass in the dark” like they used too, well let’s just say we are grinning and whooping with them too.

BA Tortuga continues to give us characters that breath, bleed, and leap off the pages and into our hearts.  Don’t miss a single installment!

This is a short story that never feels like one.  Instead it feels a little like visiting old friends, you know, just stopping by for a drink and talk.  It’s comfortable, it’s heartwarming, and most of all, it feels like coming home.

Here are the Roughstock stories not in the order they were written but grouped according to pairing:

Roughstock: File Gumbo – Season One (Sam and Beau)

Roughstock: And a Smile — Season One (Coke and Dillon with Sam and Beau mentioned)

Roughstock: And a Smile — Coke’s Clown (Coke and Dillon, with Sam and Beau)

Cowboy Christmas: A Roughstock Short (Coke and Dillon)

The New Guy, a Roughstock story (Coke and Dillon)

The Retreat, a Roughstock story (Coke and Dillon)

Roughstock: Blindride — Season One

Starting the Roux, a Roughstock story (Beau and Same)

Doce, A Roughstock Story: The Ten of Wands – Roughstock universe

Give it Time: the Seven of Wands – Roughstock universe

Shutter Speed, A Roughstock Story: the Seven of Pentacles – Roughstock universe

Amorzinhos, A Roughstock Story

Leather Work and Lonely Cowboys, a Roughstock story (Sam and Beau)

Too Careful By Half, a Roughstock story

Review of Black Magic by Megan Derr

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Once there was one nation but a brutal war split it up into smaller kingdoms, each with its own laws, religion and official views of magic and magic users. In the Kingdom of Vindeia, the Goddess was worshiped and the King supported by his High Priest and High Paladin, the warrior arm of the Goddess. They in turn ruled over lesser priests and paladins to help keep the kingdom safe from demons and chaos.  Necromancers exist as well, but only on the outskirts of society, shunned for their supposed involvement in the dark arts.

In the neighboring Kingdom of Narvath, there is no Goddess worship and the Kingdom’s only practitioners of magic are the alchemists. And  unlike the priests and paladins who lead lives of acceptance and relative ease, the alchemists are slaves, sold to the highest bidder once their gifts come alive.  No other magical practices are allowed to exist by law.

But something evil is stirring that will bring death and chaos to both kingdoms and make them question their most basic of assumptions about magic and those who wield its powers.

When a cousin and fellow paladin is murdered in the most gruesome way, High Paladin Soren seeks out the advice of the Goddess to help him catch the murderer.  Through her High Priest, the Goddess tells Soren that one comes to aid him, and that person is none other than one of the hated necromancers.  Because his Goddess commands him and against his better judgement, Soren accepts the help of the necromancer, Koray, to track down the murderer who has just struck again.

Koray the necromancer journeyed to the High Castle because the Goddess has commanded it, not knowing why but well aware of the reception he will get from the castle inhabitants.  Necromancers have been beaten, tortured and even killed on sight for ages and Koray expects the same to happen to him once he reaches his designation. But before he reaches the castle, he runs into Soren who is out in the woods mourning the loss of his friend and relative.  Sparks ignite between them and once the dust settles, both men realize that the Goddess has brought them together and they agree to put aside all differences and prejudices to accomplish her goal, one that will change the kingdoms around them forever.

Once again, Megan Derr has given us a rich, densely layered world, so carefully crafted that even the forests and villages, vivid in their details, feel as real as the park down the street. Her partitioning of Magic into the various fields is not  new but it feels so here with all the elements she has crafted that go into Goddess worship and those that support her by magical means.  There are the magical priests, paladins, necromancers, alchemists and warlocks, no one is left out. As most of the action takes place in Vendeia, that is the region given the most detail.  From the castle battlements to the various rooms right up to the Cathedral itself, Derr brings it to life from the rough hewn stones to the smooth rock of the hallways, I could see it all so clearly.  Just a wonderful job in making a fantasy world seem authentic and real.

Her characters possess an equal measure of complexity and realism as their settings.  They can be a haughty and humorous, irritating and   endearing, abused and long suffering, all these facets of their personas.  What they never are is dull.  They have a tendency to argue themselves right into your hearts, make you grind your teeth in frustration over behaviors irrational and still you root for them to succeed.  I loved each and every one Derr introduces to us, starting with Soren and Koray.  Soren is the epitome of certainly in everything he does, while often volatile in the things he says when angry.  And he meets his match in Koray, who is his equal in power and acidity of tongue.  Their verbal interactions were a constant joy as they pivoted around each other in willful misunderstandings (Soren) and hurtful barbs (Koray). I loved watching their relationship develop. I would have been happy with just them but then the author adds two additional and intriguing couples, each full of surprises for each other and the reader.  Really I couldn’t put this story down until I was done and their tale finished.  And then of course I wanted so much more, more of these fascinating people and more of the future spread out so tantalizingly before them.

In Black Magic Megan Derr has given us a remarkable fantasy full of magnificent quests, horrific deaths and love most human.  She really is my go to author for fantasy when I want to lose myself in magic, warlocks, knights, villains most evil and lost causes.  I will put this next to my other favorites, up front and ready to begin my journey with these memorable characters once more.

Book Details:

ebook, 265 pages
Published October 31st 2012 by Less Than Three Press LLC (first published October 30th 2012)

Review: Second Chances (Cattle Valley #28) by Carol Lynne

Rating: 3 stars

After a shotgun blast took off his arm, former Chicago police officer Robert “Oggie” Ogden moved to Cattle Valley to start life over again as a cattle rancher.  Then another opportunity came along, that of turning a portion of his ranch into a sanctuary for homeless and troubled GLBTQ youth.  With the help of  local philanthropist Asa Montgomery, Second Chance Ranch is about to complete its second dormitory and other facilities.  But accepting Asa’s help has also meant that Oggie has had to put up with Drake Smith, the head of security for Asa’s company.  Oggie hates that people think of him as disabled and refuses most of the offers of help sent his way, including Drake’s.

Drake Smith learned early in life that his small size made him an easy target for bullies as did his home life.  And to take on the bullies he learned to defend himself, becoming a skilled fighter.  But emotionally? That was something he found tougher to guard against the hurts inflicted by others.  So he gave up, withdrew, isolating himself within his  apartment and into his job.  Against his better judgement, Drake finds himself drawn to the taciturn Oggie and reaches out to him only to find himself and his overtures of assistance harshly rebuffed.

Only an emergency rescue of a young boy in Washington, DC brings these two men back together.  As they search for the missing boy, the sexual heat flares between them, burning down their barriers along the way.  Neither man is prepared for the feelings emerging from their encounter and pull back from each other.  When they land  back in Cattle Valley with the rescued young man, only time will tell if they will give each other the second chance at love.

Carol Lynne’s Cattle Valley series has really turned into a hit or miss reading adventure.  The last book I reviewed, Alone In A Crowd, was a return to the reason I loved this series and grabbed up each book as they were published.  Carol Lynne brought back her original characters in a long established relationship and gave us an intimate look into their changing dynamics with only scarce mentions of new characters to come. So I eagerly picked this book up, only to find that the author has returned to the form that made me eventually give up on Cattle Valley.  Here in Second Chances, the author has so many balls in the air that they are dropping figuratively all over the landscape and we are left with a grab bag of nonsensical characters and behaviors culled from the back of a psychiatry handbook.

Really, from the descriptions and back histories of the main characters here, Oggie and Drake, it looks like the author used the Mr. Potato Head method of character construction,  jamming in various characteristics into her people regardless of whether they fit or not.  I don’t know how else to explain it.  This is Drake Smith.  He is small statured (no problem), so preoccupied by threats to his safety (real or imagined) that he lives in a tiny apartment in Asa’s business complex with multiple locks on his door.He take a gun with him to answer any knocks on it.  Drake bases all his life’s decisions on “what would make his (dead) mother smile” but only eats Campbell soup because that’s all he and his mother ate.  Drake is a cutter. He self mutilates and then runs around on cutup feet like it is no problem. And after one episode, the cutting is never mentioned again.  It just disappears. Drake is ok with casual sex but won’t open his door without a gun? Huh.  And it just keep snow piling from there.  I get that Lynne wants us to find him a pained filled little man needing our sympathy but all she accomplishes is to make him out as a whacko with the Bate’s Motel in his background. Trust me it gets worse if you think that is harsh.  We will come back to him later.

Oggie is a little better.  I can see a cop having trouble leaving his life behind and having problems adjusting to his disability.  I get that, I do.  Oggie is more believable as someone who is afraid that pity lies behind offers of help.  He’s not too bad except when Drake gives him a compliment and his response is “F*&k, Drake, you turning me into some kind of damn woman or what?” Really? That’s what you come up with after muttering an endearment? I don’t know about you but I found that offensive to both men and women.

Then there is the matter of a little scene between the two men in the airplane on their way to DC.  Drake carries with him a small photograph album of pictures of him and his mother. He gives them to Oggie to help him better understand where Drake is coming from. Sweet, right?  The first picture shows a 5 year old Drake and a women with bandaged feet.  As he ages, his mother loses more and more limbs over time (to Diabetes),  First her feet, then her arms…year by year there is less and less of her. Another year, another limb.  And by then I am in tears.  Of laughter.  Not because of the very real possibility of amputation as the disease progresses.  No, I am in hysterics over the thought of what an SNL sketch this would make.  Definitely not the reaction I think Carol Lynne going for. But that just shows you how over the top this story got in making a grab for our emotions.

And finally there is Cullen “Little Man”, the boy they were sent to rescue.  Her characterization of this young man is the ultimate black mark against this book.  Cullen was a young prostitute on the streets of DC until Father Joseph (hopefully Episcopalian) talks him into the shelter he runs for GLBTQ youth.  But something happens and Cullen returns to the streets where he is abducted by his pimp and made to pay for trying to leave his stable.  It is inferred that this kid was gang raped i.e.,  tortured and “retrained” by multiple men. And when Oggie and Drake find Cullen, he is tied to a bed  barely breathing, bloody, beaten, raped and a W is carved into his forehead.  I don’t think it is a stretch for anyone to imagine the emotional and  psychological trauma this would inflict on this young man, to say nothing of the physical mess his body is in.  But is this handled responsibly after loading up this poor guy with one horrific event after another? No,  Cullen bounds back to normal almost immediately.  Nothing is said about the huge W on his forehead.  It’s as though nothing bad had really happened to him.  So how do you go there as an author and not address the very real problems brought up?  I don’t know and Carol Lynne has certainly not given us any answers.

There are smaller editing errors (Drake “unlocks” his apartment upon leaving) as well as an unrealistic case of “instant love”, all in 89 pages.   But there are so many larger issues here, that is the least of the book’s problems.

And finally there is the prospect of a romance on the horizon that even if Cullen turns out to be of legal age, leaves me kind of nauseous. So where do I go from here?  One terrific book is followed by one that is just this side of awful.  I will probably keep reading them.  At this point it is too late to stop and, like a carrot before the horse, there is always the promise of a return again to the form that made Cattle Valley I place I loved to visit.

Cover by Posh Gosh is perfection as usual.

Review of Cherish (Faith, Love & Devotion #4) by Tere Michaels

Rating: 4.5 stars

It has taken several years, 5 to be exact, for New York City Vice Detective Evan Cerelli, his four children, and former Homicide Detective Matt Haight to come together as a couple and as a family.  And for the most part they have made it without the emotional fireworks and mental turmoil that marked the first year of their relationship.

Now Even is going to be promoted to Captain of his precinct, the first out gay captain on the force, Matt is a successful security advisor when he is not a wonderful house husband to the two kids, twins Danny and Elizabeth, still at home.  Katie and Miranda are off at college, and their friends seem happy.  Life is good.

But Thanksgiving is coming and bringing with it the family explosions they thought they had left in the past. When Evan accidentally learns his oldest daughter, Miranda, is thinking of getting married to her boyfriend of less than 3 months, he flies off in a rage and is met with equal anger from Miranda who still has problems accepting her father’s relationship with Matt. A temporary truce between them sees Evan inviting Miranda’s new boyfriend and his parents to Evan and Matt’s house for Thanksgiving.  Also coming for Thanksgiving is Helena, Evan’s partner on the force and her boyfriend, Shane, and second oldest daughter, Katie, who “wouldn’t miss the fireworks for anything.”

And before the turkey is even on the table,  emotional explosions are going off and everyone is included.  Matt and Evan first have to survive Thanksgiving with their family and friends, and each minute more is making that unlikely.

This is the fourth book in the Faith, Love & Devotion series by Tere Michaels and it is a series close to my heart.  We first met  Matt and Evan in the first book Faith & Fidelity, at the angst ridden beginnings of their relationship.  Then Evan was mourning the loss of his beloved wife and first and only person he has ever slept with.  In addition to his grief, he was trying to do his job as a police officer and fill in the void for his four kids left behind when his wife died.  Evan is full of pain, grief and overburdened by stress and doubts about his ability to  be a good father and step up to the plate.  Matt is a complete mess when the reader and Evan first encounter him.  Forced to resign from the police force he loves over behavior issues, he has become a bitter, disillusioned drunk, getting by as a security cop and on anonymous sex with women. But a conversation in a bar and the exchange of personal confidences leads to an unlikely friendship that eventually turns into a shattering love affair that forces each man to rethink his sexuality and  their acceptance of the fact that they love each other.  It is a tough road for Evan and Matt, especially Evan, who has the reactions of his children, former inlaws and police force to think about.

One of the things I cherish about this series is that Tere Michaels lets us in on the emotional fallout and oscillating feelings, including bouts of denial, that come with identity earthquakes. By that I mean the paradigm shifts that occur within a person when the most basic self knowledge is proven wrong.  And being gay or bisexual is a major shift for them both.  The author lets their relationship play out, not over one book but four stories, including this one.  The Evan/Matt relationship here is the strongest it has ever been (and that’s saying something) but even here it has its shaky moments, most of which come from the stress brought on by Miranda. Let me tell you, there are many times that I am as frustrated with Miranda as everyone else in her family.  I don’t like her behavior and think that Evan needs to get a grip when dealing with her.  But does that sound like I think of them as characters?  No it does not.  And that’s the beauty of these stories and these amazing characters, they might make you gnash your teeth and pull some hair, but they are never anything less than believable.

Michaels also takes into account how much alike fathers and their daughters can be as Evan and Miranda’s behavior is often a reflection of each other.  Matt too has aged and grown into his role as caregiver/second father to at least 3 of the kids, and his growth is as realistic and wry as can be.  Tere Michaels has a wonderful grip on relationship dynamics, not only between romantic partners but familial relationships too.  Siblings squabbles,  family arguments, and the small joys of an established bond are all found here in this latest addition to the series.

I also loved that it takes place over Thanksgiving and includes the family of Miranda’s boyfriend, which adds that unknown element so often present at Thanksgiving when multiple family groups, including strangers, are brought together and forced to engage each other on the most intimate of  American celebrations, the Thanksgiving dinner.  Expectations are perhaps unreasonably high for what we think this holiday with its traditions of being grateful and giving thanks will bring.  And that stress alone has blown up more turkeys than any fryer on the market. I will tell you that all ends well, at least temporarily for this wonderful family I have become so fond of.  If you are familiar with this story, you will love Cherish as I did.  If this series is new to you,  don’t start here.  Go back to the beginning to where it all started.  It makes the place they are at now all the more precious and rewarding.

And Tere Michaels?  I need more of another favorite couple here, that would be Jim and Griffon from Love & Loyalty (Faith, Love & Devotion #2).  Pretty please?  That would be a great Christmas gift for us all.

Here are the books in the series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the history and couples involved:

Faith & Fidelity (Faith, Love, & Devotion, #1)

Love & Loyalty (Faith, Love, & Devotion, #2)

Duty & Devotion (Faith, Love, & Devotion, #3)

Cherish (Faith, Love, & Devotion, #4)

Cover art by Croco Designs.  The covers for this series are just average.  They really don’t relate to the stories within nor do they make any real attempt to have models that look like the characters. Grade C

Books available at Loose id, Amazon, and All Romance.

Review: A Slice of Love (Taste of Love #4) by Andrew Grey

Rating: 4.5 stars

Coming from a military family with a General for a father, Marcus Wilson was the only child who marched to a different drummer.  Not only is Marcus gay but instead of following his siblings into service, Marcus opened his own bakery, A Slice of Heaven.  Owning his own bakery is his dream but going it alone without support is getting harder to hold onto it all.  Marcus has two wonderful helpers but in order to survive, he needs to expand his business.  And he’s so exhausted from working 24/7 that he doesn’t know how to make that happen.  All he knows is that he needs help and soon to save everything he has worked for.

Gregory Southland is finally back on his  feet and working again.  After being  diagnosed with HIV, he become too ill to work and support himself.  After his parents rejected him for being gay and his HIV status, he was saved by his ex-boyfriend and his partner who nursed him back to health. But Gregory’s current paycheck is not enough and he needs a second part-time job to help him pay his bills and starting building up his savings again. Then his ex-boyfriend Sebastian has a suggestion.  The baker across the street from Sebastian and Robert’s restaurant needs help with his bookkeeping and it just might be the perfect solution for them both.

When Gregory starts to work for Marcus, something wonderful starts to happen.  The instant attraction each felt for the other starts to deepen into something stronger, something that starts to feel a lot like love. And the bakery blossoms along with their relationship. When they help out a engaged couple in distress, their wedding cake business booms.  Even the distance between Marcus and his family starts to dwindle when Marcus’ stepmother needs a cake (and their involvement) to help out a young boy being discriminated against.  But for every two steps forward, something or someone appears to impede their progress.  Gregory’s past returns to threaten his new happiness and Marcus’ support for his stepmother’s cause imperiles his bakery’s newfound success.  Marcus and Gregory must believe in each other to help Marcus’ dream and their future come true.

What a wonderful, heartwarming story, perfect reading when you want that book that will fill you with happiness and hope.  In A Slice of Love, Andrew Grey gives us that and more.  The author gives us families built around the people closest to us, people not necessarily related by blood.  Grey then manages to bring together into the mixture families long estranged from each other and reunites them with their loved ones.  And what we end up with is a community of people connected by family, respect and love.

This is the fourth book in the Taste of Love series and the focus this time is on Marcus Wilson and Gregory Southland.  The lives of both men have been changed by contact with  HIV/AIDS.  For Marcus, he lost his best friend and business partner to the disease and now carries their dream forward by himself.  For Gregory, the impact is greater still as he is HIV positive now, a result of a bad decision.  But instead of highlighting the negative aspects of life lived with AIDS, Andrew Grey shows us that life does not stop with a diagnoses.  Gregory, once he is healthy again, has a romantic life and good career.  And just as realistically, the author includes Gregory’s drug regimen, as well as the care he takes to protect himself and others from casual transmission by body fluids.  Putting a face to HIV status is a wonderful way to help inform as well as promote the idea that an HIV positive person is not someone to treat as an outcast but rather someone who should be embraced for who they are and not the illness they carry.  And he did that here not just through the character of Gregory but through that of a little boy as well.

There are multiple relationships to be resolved here  and Andrew Grey manages it with a gentle hand and considerable skill.  It doesn’t matter whether it is the father/son bond that needs to be reestablished, or a shallow connection between stepmother and stepson that becomes strong through communication and generous gestures.  All manner of family ties and friendship are explored here along with that of  romantic love.  It also doesn’t hurt that it all revolves around a bakery and some sinfully delectable pastries and cakes.  I wanted to reach out and grab a piece of that carrot cake or snag a cinnamon rolls as it came out of the oven, the descriptions were so mouth watering good.

A Slide of Love is a wonderfully endearing addition to a heartwarming series you will return to time and again.  Tis the season for family, joy and love.  Pick this up and lose yourself in all three.

A Taste of Love series in the order they were written and the characters introduced:

A Taste of Love (Darryl Hansen and Billy Weaver)

A Serving of Love (Sebastian Franklin and Robert Fortier)

A  Helping of Love (Peter Christopoulos and Russ Baker)

A Slide of Love (Marcus Wilson and Gregory Southland)