Review: Love You Like A Romance Novel by Megan Derr

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Jefferson “Jet” Kristopherson, is a rock star. Jet and his cousin, David “Dai” Kristopherson, form the very successful rock band, Forever and a Dai. But their careers and fame came at a high cost, their families. Both families disassociated themselves from Jet and Dai the moment Jet fled the family home and business he was being groomed to run, taking his cousin along with him. While Jet knows abandoning the family business for a career as a musician made him an utter disappointment in his families opinion, the real blame laid on his shoulders was taking Dai with him, and their families have never forgiven him. Now circumstances beyond his control force him back to confront his family and issues he hoped were buried in the past.

Jason Kristopherson is everything his cousin and brother are not. Jason is a successful entertainment lawyer at his father’s law firm just as his family had planned. He is powerful, well respected or feared by his peers and others in the industry. And it is expected that Jason will assume the leadership role in Kristopherson, Carmichael, and Jones, his father’s firm when his father retires. But Jason is hiding a few secrets of his own that if revealed will shatter his family and the future they have so carefully planned out for his life.

The future is about to change drastically for all three men. Who will survive when all the secrets are exposed?

First let me say that as a fantasy author, Megan Derr can do no wrong. With regard to her fantasy stories and series, I can count on her plots being dynamic and complex, her characterizations beautifully realized complete with a lively dialog that moves her fantasy narratives along at a smooth and exuberant pace. I can also say the same of some of her contemporary romance stories. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about Love You Like A Romance Novel.

My quibbles with this story boil down to just a couple of issues, but for me they are big ones. Let’s take them one at a time. First is the dense narrative. The first half of this story is so densely packed with backstory and repetitive dialog that it slows the momentum down. So much of it entails the family business and family history that the real drama between Jet and Jason (as well as Jason and Dai) becomes diluted. I noticed that this story was a serialized entry for Megan Derr and Less Than Three Press and wondered if the somewhat jerky movement of the story might be due to the fact that it came out in spurts as a series does rather than a planned novel. That might explain the lack of smoothness in the narrative I found throughout the story.

Secondly, parts of the plot lacked realism. A law firm knowingly deals with major criminal elements and than they are surprised when their reputation (and other things) takes a hit? The characters also react in a way so counter to the situations they are in that at least this reader pulled back in disbelief more than once. When someone knows they are a target, do you really walk into a dark house? That sort of thing happens in a variety of ways here. Perfect, perhaps for a soap opera or yes, maybe a bodice ripper but not a contemporary romance.

But I think my most serious issue is with the characters. I did love Jason Kristopherson. He is the most layered and grownup of the group. He really saved this story for me. He has just a delicious secret that he is keeping, one I did not expect. Jason is ruthless, powerful, self aware and extraordinarily complicated. I wish his counterparts in the story had his complexities. Unfortunately, in regard to Jet and Dai, the first half of the story comes across as Lifestyles of the Rich and Whiny. Both men are wealthy, came from uber rich families and spend most of their time whining and yelling at everyone around them. Neither man is good at listening and communication issues abound throughout the story. Jet is actually 30 years old but his behavior never seems to rise above that of a teenager. In fact, had one meeting been held at the beginning and they actually talked things out, then the book would have been over at page one. But no, Dai and Jet jump to conclusions, run away or just yell at everyone. Exasperating the first time it happens, tiresome and juvenile when it occurs repeatedly.

After the fifty percent mark, the story started to get interesting and engaging and my interest perked up. But then a major character does something so unrealistic that I was jolted back to the beginning and all the reasons I had a hard time investing in this story. And that was a pity because there are some good bones here underneath the thick surface layer and character missteps. Perhaps had the characters more interesting layers, less money, and more real problems, I could have disregarded some of the other issues I had with Love You Like A Romance Novel, but as it stands I loved it less than a romance novel, in fact I loved it not at all.

The cover art is too dark for me to see the graphics, does not seem designed to grab a reader’s attention.

Review: Collusion (Diversion #2) by Eden Winters

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Richmond “Lucky” Lucklighter, former drug dealer, is dead. In his place, Simon “Lucky” Harrison lives on and continues to work for the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, along with his romantic/agency partner, former Marine Bo Schollenberger. As Lucky recovered from his injuries, Bo has been working on finishing up the case without him and their schedules have left them with little time to spend with each other. And Lucky wrestles with the idea of having an actual relationship with a man he sees as so much better than himself.

Bo Schollenberger is still fighting his own demons, that of an abusive father, PTSD from his tour in Afghanistan, and continuing his recovery from prescription drug addiction. That addiction landed him working for the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, same as Lucky and as a pharmacist, it is one Bo has to confront daily in his job as an undercover narcotics agent. Bo realizes that having Lucky as his partner in love as well as work complicates his life and makes it better at the same time. Now if only Lucky will realize that.

Then on their next case together, a situation arises that may jeopardize everything they have worked so hard to achieve. A prescription drug shortage places the patients at Rosario Children’s Cancer Center in danger, not just from the unavailability of life saving drugs but from the substitution of medications produced at less than legal companies. And Bo’s need to protect and assist those children places his job in trouble and pits him against his lover and his company. Lucky sees Bo getting in too deep to see who the villains really are, maybe even the doctors themselves. In a situation where the young victims get to even the hardest agent of them all, Lucky himself, what won’t Lucky do to save them all?

I thought that Diversion was going to be a hard story to beat but Collusion (Diversion #2) handles the job of sequel with astounding power and depth. I just loved it. Collusion takes up where Diversion left off. Simon “Lucky” Harrison has left the hospital, his former self, Richmond “Lucky” Lucklighter now safely dead and buried. While he has recuperated at his desk at the Southeastern Natcotics Bureau, his on and off again romantic/agent partner, Bo has been dealing with the aftermath of their original investigation. Then a heartbreaking case of extreme urgency, that of a drug shortage at Rosario Children’s Cancer Center, gives them an investigation that will see them both undercover once more.

I cannot complement Eden Winters enough for the outstanding job she accomplished with Collusion. First, there is the heartbreaking story line, that of children with cancer desperately in need of the drugs that may either save them or at least delay the progress of the disease that’s killing them. Their plight is brought home by one patient, Stephanie Owens, a small child who manages to capture Lucky’s heart the moment they meet. Winters gives us a portrait of a child with cancer without any saccharine overload. Then the author proceeds with a steely outlook to demonstrate just how little the patients actually matter to those that use the life-giving drugs the children need as just another commodity to manipulate for the greatest monetary gain. Without lecturing or creating an information dump, Winters brings us into the gray world of pharmaceutical companies, the intermediaries that handle the transactions, through the shipment and warehousing to those that distribute the needed drugs through avenues as diverse as drugstores and Craigslist. Never boring, this information and insight into this industry will make you cry out for even more regulation to stop the abuse that is recounted within Diversion and Collusion. Contemptible is far too soft a word for the events that occur daily in this industry where some people put monetary gain above those in need of life saving medication and Eden Winters brings that home with an emotional blow to the heart.

And then we have Lucky and Bo, two such remarkable characters that they have been stuck in my head talking to me over the past couple of days. Complicated people, with all their human flaws and strengths revealing themselves over the course of these two stories, I loved watching them and their relationship grow as once more an undercover operation brings out the best and worst in them both. Told once again from Lucky’s pov, we get to watch as Lucky struggles to acknowledge just how much Bo has come to mean to him, and equally how much it would hurt to lose him. Given Lucky’s past history, to bring himself to trust another with his love (if he can bring himself to call it that) is a huge step forward, not one he is sure he can make. Bo’s character is as equally alive and a perfect match for the hard-nosed, former criminal. Bo’s background is one of parental abuse, PTSD and prescription addiction and yet Bo is still able to see the best in those around him. A wonderful contrast to Lucky’s belief that all are guilty until proven innocent. And as I said before, watching these two dance around each other, the word “relationship” never touching their lips, is a true joy. The author clearly demonstrates her understanding of the intricacies of relationships in her portraits of Bo and Lucky’s slow climb to love and romance. Eden Winters gives her creations such perfect crisp, snappy dialog that it enhances their personalities and gives the reader better understanding into Bo and Lucky’s characters. Do I love these two? Why yes, I do, in every way possible.

And then there is the resolution to the undercover investigation that is so satisfying and beautifully resolved that I had to read it twice. It made sense in that it seemed to be accurately feasible in the manner in which it was accomplished. I think you will find yourself grinning just as I did. I don’t know if Eden Winters has more planned for Lucky and Bo, but I hope so. There is still plenty of growth to be had within their relationship and I would think that the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau will never lack for cases to investigate and solve. Here’s hopeing that there is a Diversion #3 on the horizon for all of us to enjoy.

Cover Art by Trace Edward Zaber is full of elements pertinent to the story but lacking somehow, due in part to the blue toned cover.

Book Details:

Collusion (Diversion #2)

Novel, 275 pages, Amber Allure Press, LLC

Buy Link at Amber Allure Press: Collusion by Eden Winters

Books in the series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and the situations:

Diversion (Diversion #1)

Collusion (Diversion #2)

Review: Diversion by Eden Winters

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Richmond “Lucky” Lucklighter’s luck ran out when he was caught up in a multi million dollar scheme to illegally buy, sell, and control the pharmaceutical drug market run by his criminal boyfriend. In return for his testimony against his former boyfriend and drug dealing partner, Lucky would receive a reduced sentence and jail time. Lucky agreed for more than one reason and found himself in jail for ten years, a marked man because of his betrayal and testimony. But two years into his sentence, the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau’s Department of Diversion Prevention and Control came calling with a proposition. Come work for them teaching their agents all they need to know about his end of the business and assist on drug details or spend the remaining eight years in jail. The decision for Lucky was an easy one. Lucky wanted out and if that meant he had to play along with the narcs, so be it.

Now just two months shy of being completely free of his bargain and gaining his life back, Lucky must complete one last assignment and train a rookie in the bargain. Lucky is not prepared for the rookie that shows up to start the investigation with him. Former Marine Bo Schollenberger is tall, gorgeous, and gay. Bo is the complete opposite of his cynical, hard-nosed partner or so Lucky thinks. But Bo suffers from PTSD from his time on tour, and found his dream of being a pharmacist shattered when he got caught up in an prescription addiction. Bo’s out? The same one Lucky chose and he is Lucky’s replacement. Now Lucky must contend with training a man he is increasingly coming to care for in a job he won’t admit he enjoys and secretly dreading his return to a freedom with no job in sight and no one to care for him.

When their current investigation turns into a much larger operation than anyone expected, including their bosses, Lucky and Bo go deeper undercover to catch the criminals and smash the operation. Dangers are everywhere waiting to expose their cover, including easy access to the very drugs that pulled Bo under. But Richmond “Lucky” Lucklighter is on top of his game and everyone had better watch out, including his own bosses because Lucky is going to do things his way and get what he wants. Now if only he can admit to himself who and what that is…..

I love nothing better than a cynical, smart mouthed bad boy and “Lucky” Lucklighter fits the bill. How I loved him from the first introduction as he scopes out his latest target and steals a semi full of prescription drugs. A bantam of a man, his past history has contributed the arrogant, smug criminal facade he projects to all around him. But Lucky is far more complex than he appears. I cannot give enough credit to Eden Winters for this remarkable character. He exudes life and a certain swashbuckling criminality but the more we get to know him, we see who he has become underneath, no matter how much Lucky refuses to admit his change of heart to himself. Lucky is brash, outrageous, and a compulsive over planner. I would have been so disappointed if Winters had paired him up with the typical lawman or something equally common. I should not have worried because Winters then gives us Bo Schollenberger, haunted vet who still manages an outlook on life surprisingly open hearted given his back history. His complexities tie in beautifully with Lucky’s and it is one of the greatest pleasures of this book watching the two men dance around each other, testing each person’s strengths and weaknesses to their ultimate undoing because they are so well matched.

Another measure of the terrific writing found in Diversion is that I was never sure how the ending would turn out. Winters kept me guessing the entire time because as the story is told from Lucky’s pov, he is not sure himself how it is all going to end. So as the investigation ramps up, so does the reader’s anticipation and anxiety over how it will all fall out, if Lucky will take his freedom and walk away and what will happen to Bo?

Another surprising pleasure is the storyline and the subject of the large pharmaceutical companies and prescription drugs. I had no idea how the drugs were handled past their expiration dates, the necessary warehousing, and even the shortages which are used to raise the drug prices and control the markets. It is clear that Winters has done her homework and then some. But it never comes across as a info dump but effortlessly folded into the story. Eden Winters picked a fascinating and topical subject and than ran with it as the main focus of the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau’s Department of Diversion Prevention and Control investigations and agent expertise. Unusual topic meets unusual main characters and the final mixture is captivating and addicting and hard to put down.

I was thrilled to see that Diversion has a sequel, Collusion. That will be next on my reading list. Look for that review to be out shortly. In the meantime, go grab this book up and prepare to meet two of the most addictive characters (in more ways than one) in a contemporary romance. You will love them. To quote Justin Wilson, I guarantee!

Cover art by Trace Edward Zaber, perfect for the story within.

Review: Covet Thy Neighbor (A Tucker Springs novel) by L.A. Witt

Rating: 4.5 stars

Tattoo artist Seth Wheeler watches as his new neighbor, Darren Romero, moves in across the hall from his apartment. Darren hits all Seth’s buttons, he is cute, smart, flirty, with a great sense of humor. Plus Darren seems to like what he sees when he looks at Seth, so things are looking great. Until Seth asks Darren what he does for a living and all Seth’s expectations of a flirtatious romance or even a hot one night stand fly out the window.

Darren Romero came to Tucker Springs to take a position as youth minister at the New Light church in town and that is a very real problem for Seth. Seth is a committed atheist and has been since his church and his family threw him out when he told them he was gay. Now Seth avoids even the mention of church and anyone who believes in religion, even someone as hot and engaging as Darren.

Being neighbors makes it hard for Seth to avoid the minister and Darren refuses to give up on their friendship and possible relationship even as Seth fights the growing attraction between them. Seth knows that Darren is perfect for him in every way but one. Can Seth finally make his peace with the past and the part the church played in his abandonment or will Seth let the man he has come to love slip away because of his faith?

I have loved each and every Tucker Spring novel that has been released and Covet Thy Neighbor is a great addition to the series. L.A. Witt presents us with two beautifully developed characters and adds the unusual element of religion to the mix. Seth Wheeler is a character introduced in previous stories. He has hovered around the other couples as a best friend and tattooist in Tucker Springs but we never learned his story until now.

Seth came from an ultra religious family and conservative church. So when he came out, their reactions cost him his family and faith as he was thrown out of his house and permanently disowned. In describing his past, Witt gives us a very real feel for the deep pain and feelings of abandonment that Seth feels even now years later. The author shows that the loss of family is a wound that never fully heals, and for Seth meeting Darren is like tearing off a scab on his soul. Seth wants to protect himself and for him that means distance. Distance from Darren and distance from the religion that hurt him so deeply.

Darren is his opposite, a man of faith for whom his religion is felt at the cellular level. It is not possible to separate the two. I love that L.A. Witt treats this issue with the seriousness it deserves. So many GLBTQ people have felt abandoned by their churches and religion just as Seth does. Equally true is that not all religions or even individual churches are discriminatory. Some are supportive of the gay community, and it is important to give those pastors and institutions a voice as well. The author does so here with Darren Romero, and it works beautifully.

Darren Romero’s faith is one he has arrived at only after working through a series of obstacles and events that could have derailed that faith at any time. I loved that Darren is such a well rounded religious character. He has his flaws and his moments of doubt. And his past also contains a time where his openess came with a cost. Darren is up front about his sexuality, he is smart, compassionate, and “smokin’ hot”, at ease behind the pulpit as he is in the bedroom. And the arguments and discussions he has with Seth are thought provoking and ones that could be heard in towns across America.

Another element of this story that grabbed me was the GLBTQ youth that Darren worded with and provided shelter for. The scene with Seth and the trans girl rings true. It’s also heartbreaking because you just know how many children out there this girl represents. This novel is just what I have come to expect from L.A. Witt and the Tucker Springs series. A great plot, interesting, fully realized characters and a narrative that moves the plot along at a lively pace. I was astonished at how quickly I finished the story, to my utter dismay. At the end, I wanted more of Seth and Darren, and the kids, and well, more of Tucker Springs.

As I stated before, I can’t get enough of this series, and each new story just cements it place as one of the best continuing series out there. I can’t wait to see what these amazing authors will come up with next.

I love this cover. Much like the other covers of this series, it works on all levels, from the models to the background. Just great.

Tucker Springs Website

Here are the books in the order they were written:

Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs, #1) by L.A. Witt

Second Hand (Tucker Springs, #2) by Marie Sexton

Dirty Laundry (Tucker Springs, #3) by Heidi Cullinan

Covet Thy Neighbor (Tucker Springs, #4) by L.A. Witt

Never a Hero (Tucker Springs, #5) by Marie Sexton

Review: Family Man by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

Rating: 4 stars

Vince Fierro is forty. He comes from a large Italian family who love him and can’t understand why he hasn’t found the right girl yet. After all, Vince has three failed marriages behind him to prove that he is trying. But inside Vince knows the real reason none of his marriages have worked is because he is gay, a fact he has a hard time acknowledging even to himself. When his sister suggests that Vince find out by visiting a gay club in Chicago’s Boystown , he agrees and runs immediately into someone he knows, an encounter that will change both of their lives forever.

Trey Giles is leading a life that would cause anyone else to have a nervous breakdown. Trey is working two jobs in order to finish school, take care of his grandmother, who he lives with and dealing with a mother who refuses to deal with her serious substance abuse problems. Dating is the last thing on his mind until he runs into Vince at the bar. Vince is clearly uncomfortable, from the crowd to the music and when Trey suggests a more quiet jazz bar so they can talk, the night turns into something neither man expected. They talk for hours, Trey agreeing to help Vince become adjusted to the idea of his homosexuality but in truth Vince and Trey find a connection with each other so deep and instantaneous that it leaves them unsure of what step to take next. Vince’s biggest fear is that he will lose his family if he comes out of his closet, but if he doesn’t acknowledge his homosexuality to himself and his family, Vince just might lose the best thing that has ever happened to him, Trey Giles. What will this self proclaimed family man do?

Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton are two of my “must read” authors. They never fail to produce a story that will warm your heart and leave you thinking about love in all its combinations. In Family Man, the authors give us an older Italian American who has been so afraid of his own sexuality that he has married three times in the past, each with the same predictable result, divorce. His huge Italian family is pressuring him to date and enter into yet another relationship with a woman and Vince finally realizes that something has to change. At first Vince comes across as almost a stereotype and I had a problem connecting with the character. Vince stubbornly refuses to see that being gay does not lessen him as a man and until he can rid himself of that notion he won’t be able to accept his “gayness”. It takes some time to really see Vince as the complex character he really is and most of that is due to his inner dialogs with himself that almost makes the reader lose patience with him.

The story really takes off when Vince and Trey connect with each other. The story switches pov back and forth between Trey and Vince and it works as we become involved emotionally in their burgeoning relationship. Trey’s situation is especially disheartening and stressful. Overworked, he is trying to provide for his grandmother and deal with his mother who is an alcoholic and drug addict. Cullinan and Sexton realistically portray what it means to live with someone who refuses to deal with their addictions. It is heartrending in its futility and the damage it inflicts on those closest to the addict and the addict themselves is authentic at every level.

Vince’s issues are also examined and given an equally respectful treatment. His fears of losing his large, Italian Catholic family if he comes out as gay are pretty realistic, especially at his age. Vince has spent close to forty years denying his true self and that is a tragedy. It takes time for Vince to visit all the ramifications of his decision and then move forward with his relationship with Trey. I actually found the second half of the book just flies by as events speed up in both Vince and Trey’s lives. It was my favorite part of the book.

Family Man is a wonderfully sweet story of romance and love found when least expecting it. Cullinan and Sexton make a marvelous team and I can’t wait to see what they will come up with next. Pick this up and prepare to meet an Italian family that is hard to forget and two MCs you will grow to love.

Cover art is wonderful, I wish I knew who the artist was to give them credit for this delicious and spot on design.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and the Week Ahead in Reviews

sláinte! Happy St. Patrick’s Day. To start your St. Patrick’s Day, here is some great music from Brogan’s Bar in Ennis, Ireland to get you fired up!

Half Irish, half Scottish, I love this day and today the weather has gone along with the program and seems particularly Irish. Overcast, damp, but not too cold, perfect for marching in parades all over the nation.

I have travelled to Ireland several times and found the leaving of it always comes with a crease in my heart, as though even my cells know that we are saying farewell to home. My first time visiting with my high school daughter was both a delightful and revelatory, her feet seeming to find paths that she should not know where there. My nights were filled of dreams of seals and shores and music carried along the winds over gorse covered hills, studded with stone. And on the penultimate day, Heather and I were hiking in a verdant forest, far away from any others or so we thought. And then we heard it, or heard them more accurately. First the sounds of a waterfall, the roar getting louder the closer we got. But what really made that day magical was the sounds of piping coming from high overhead. We craned our necks to see where it came from and finally we found him, standing on a rock ledge, eyes closed, bagpipes swelling as he lost himself in the music he was playing. We listened for a while and then quietly left, rejuevenated and enriched by a magical experience shared before she left for college. One of my finest memories.

So day I hope for the best for all of you, of laughter shared, of love found and family held close. And as this website is, mostly, devoted to books I will leave you with a quote from an Irish author:

“As a writer, I write to see. If I knew how it would end, I wouldn’t write. It’s a process of discovery.”
– Author John McGahern

Here is the week ahead in book reviews:

Monday, March 18: An Unconventional Union by Scotty Cade

Tuesday, March 19: Never A Hero by Marie Sexton

Wed., March 20: Redemption of the Beast by Amylea Lyn

Thursday, March 21: Family Man by Heidi Cullinan

Friday, March 22: Nights in Canaan by Kendall McKenna

Sat., March 23: Natural Predators by Neil Placky

So, that’s the week. Have a safe and wonderful St. Patrick’s Day. Forego the green beer, that’s gross anyway and have a Irish Manhattan, so much better!

Review: Metal Heart by Meredith Shayne

Rating: 4.25 stars

It is 1990 and a local band called King Phoenix is looking for a lead guitarist to round out the band. When 20 year old Scott King shows up to audition, his music and song writing abilities mesh perfectly with the songs and sounds King Phoenix embodies and they welcome him into the group. Scott also bonds closely with their lead singer, Ash Walker. As the rock band evolves from anonymity to fame, Scott and Ash form first a close friendship which turns into a intense, sexual and romantic relationship that lasts for four years. But unlike his other band members, Scott starts to experience stage fright the bigger the venues they play. His coping mechanisms coupled with some bad friends, start Scott on a downward spiral that Ash and the band are first unaware of, then unable to stop. Pressure mounts until the stresses and rumors of Ash leaving the band, cause Scott to implode, ODing on drugs and alcohol. While Scott lies in a coma in the hospital, the band leaves to go on tour without him. There will be no further communication between the band and Scott until 16 years later.

2011, Berry, Australia. Scott King has worked hard since coming out of rehab to become a successful music producer with his own studio. He’s healthy having been clean for 16 years. Scott likes his quiet life, he lives with his twin sister and his niece, he has friends and ex lovers, and is mostly content. His past is safely secured in a box tucked away in a closet in his bedroom, a box that never gets opened lest the past bring out all the old demons he has fought for so long.

Then he gets a phone call from the past, his old band manager, who wants Scott to play at a benefit gig for King Phoenix’s old sound man who is dying of cancer. The benefit is to raise money for his wife and child and Scott is needed to reunite the band. Prodded by his sister and fond memories of their sound man, Scott agrees against his better judgement. But seeing Ash, who wants to take up where they left off, starts to shatter Scott’s self control as does the stage fright that starts to come back. Can Scott handle the stress of seeing the only man he has ever loved under the same conditions that once broke him? Or will this reunion cost Scott everything he has worked so hard to build, including his sobriety.

I love a good rocker book and Metal Heart is terrific. It is my first introduction to Meredith Shayne and I will eagerly check out the rest of her library. Metal Heart has so much to recommend it, including a gritty look at the effect of drugs and alcohol on someone vulnerable enough to let them take over his life. Actually, I think this element of the novel is perhaps the best part of the story, elevating it even over the lovers reunited.

Shayne starts off by giving us the character of Scott King, a naive 20 year old gay musician. A friend and later band manager drags him to audition for a scruffy local band called King Phoenix. Scott is someone who loses himself in his music, from the compositions he writes to the lead guitar he plays. Shayne gives him a vulnerability that shows the reader how open emotionally Scott can be to all things, including love in the form of Ash Walker. I love this character and we watch him grow and struggle over a 16 year period. For Scott, the best part of his life is the early years with Ash, before the band caught on and became famous. Young, impressionable, artistic and happy, those are his defining years. But the stresses of playing to large crowds, as well as hiding their romance and sexuality from all around them, places such a strain on Scott that the cracks start to appear and fissure, and we feel helpless as we watch it happen. The author then goes on to demonstrates how readily available drugs and alcohol allowed musicians and others to cope with the demands of touring and the pressures of fame. The scenes where associates introduce Scott to drugs rings true as does the resulting addiction that others are helpless to derail.

This leads us into discussions of therapy and rehabilitation as well as the fact that once you are an addict, you are always an addict. Shayne is careful to give us an authentic portrayal of someone in the throes of an addiction to someone living the life of a recovered addict. The temptations to succumb to the pressure to use again are always present and Scott is that addict personified. Really, this is just a remarkable characterization.

The character of Ash Walker is one that, while he didn’t quite work his magic on me, will be a favorite of most readers. A little older, Ash is less vulnerable and more savvy than Scott, even at the beginning. And while we never doubt the love he holds for Scott, he comes across as the most secure and ambitious of the two. He wants fame, and is at ease with the pressures that come with it, unlike Scott. And while there is more to his story than is revealed at the beginning, I still found myself disconnected from this character, especially after he continues to pressure Scott to resume playing while acknowledging that Scott is showing the symptoms of cracking under the stress. I did find it realistic that the band members would be so self involved not to understand what was happening to Scott in the 90’s but for them to consider his actions that of a “jerk” when he is clearly trying to protect himself and his self control in 2011, well I found that to be less feasible, more objectionable than anything else.

This also applies to the “aha” moment of the story which I won’t divulge here. But one thing that is repeatedly brought up is the fact that Scott “disappeared” and that in 16 years Scott never tried to contact the band members. They all knew he was in rehab and a little research would have shown that those in rehabilitation are not to have contact with those that helped enable them. Plus Scott King became a successful music producer, and they couldn’t find him until 16 years later? Again, that just doesn’t seem all that realistic. But those qualms aside, this author delivers a vibrant, enthusiastic portrait of young rockers, love and the price of fame to life in Metal Heart, and then leaves us with the promise that sometimes love is enough, even after 16 years apart. For me, this is still a HFN, instead of HEA and there seems to be plenty of room for another book to see where they take the relationship next as not all obstacles have been cleared away. Either way, this story will please fans of rock n roll stories and bad boys with music to burn as well as those of romantic lovers reunited at long last. All fans will be left satisfied at the end of Metal Heart. Pick it up and happy reading!

Cover art by Anne Cain. Love, love this cover. From the graphics to the color choices and fonts, just perfect.

Review: Venetian Masks by Kim Fielding

Rating: 4.75 stars

Jeff Dawkins is 30 years old. His partner just left him for an older, richer man and now he has to sell his house because he can no longer afford the mortgage. And on top of it all, he has been left with a prepaid, non refundable month long Grand Tour vacation package they planned to take together and that Jeff never wanted to do in the first place. So when his mother, the real estate agent. explained that the least painful way to show and sell his house was if he was away, Jeff grudgingly agreed to go on the vacation as planned and leave everything in her hands.

Jeff has never travelled outside of Sacramento, unless you count one trip to Canada as a kid with his parents. But prepared as always, he has his Kindle, laptop, travel guide and plans well in hand, hoping to make the best of a bad situation. Then he arrives in Venice and all his carefully laid out schedule flies out the window when he meets ex pat Cleve Prieto. Cleve is handsome, tattooed and familiar with the language and city. So when Cleve offers to be his tour guide, for a price of course, Cleve is both suspicious and intrigued enough to say yes. But nothing about Cleve is what he says it is, his story about his background is constantly changing and he appears to have no visible means of support. Still even with all the lies and misleadings, something about Cleve just pulls at Jeff’s heart, drawing him in just as the City of Venice does, making him fall in love twice over.

Then Cleve’s dark past arrives in Venice looking for him and Jeff must decide whether to hold onto his precious control and safe life or throw all caution away to pursue a love he never expected to find across a continent where nothing is familiar or safe, starting with the languages. Venetians like to hide behind masks and Jeff must discover what is under Cleve’s before it is too late for both of them.

What an amazing, lush journey Kim Fielding sets the reader on in Venetian Masks. Everything is here, a sumptuous banquet of travelogue, mystery, self discovery and of course, love. It doesn’t hurt that Fielding sets her story in the city of love, Venice, Italy, a place it appears she is familiar with and loves with a fervor equal to that of a Venetian themself. The city is described in vivid, knowledgeable, and affectionate terms, from the well known Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) to the less familiar island of “Isola di San Michele” where the main cemetery of Venice is located. We tour the canals via gondola or by the water bus known as vaporetto, and always we feel as thought we are sitting next to Jeff and Cleve instead of reading a tourist pamphlet on local sightseeing trips. I have been to Venice and still Kim Fielding made me see it again through Jeff’s eyes as it works its magic once more on those who visit her. I thought this section of the book perfection. Because it takes time for Jeff to fall in love with the city, so caught up in his breakup and preparedness that it takes a while before he starts to let go and enjoy himself. And I loved it as we are there every step of the way. Every day as Jeff starts out from his timeshare, the desk clerk, Mita, asks him if he has fallen in love with her city yet, and with each new day we listen in as the answer evolves. This is how it starts

Jeff shakes his head. “Well, she’s pretty cute, but I’m not sure if she’s my type.” Mita laughed. “You will see. My city is special and she will claim your heart.”

And you just know it will. You will too.

Into this amazing city, Kim Fielding creates two totally human and endearing characters, Jeff Dawkins and Cleve Prieto for her story of love and self discovery. We meet Jeff at a crossroads in his life, a life that has not been easy by any standards. He has lost his partner of 6 years, he is losing the house he loves because with his partner’s income gone, he can’t afford the mortgage and this trip is pulling him out of his comfort zone of his hometown of Sacramento, California. He is also 30, a crossroads age as well. He likes his life safe and he likes being prepared for any contingency and now Jeff feels like that is gone. Furthermore he is forced to go on a trip he never wanted because it is prepaid and his mother needs him gone to sell his house. Here is a man adrift in every aspect of his life while still trying to assert some measure of control. How can you not love him? Jeff is human, complex, and recognizable in his flaws.

Then he meets Cleve Prieto, his opposite in life. Like Jeff, the reader isn’t sure what to make of Cleve at the beginning. His personality is all shadow and smoke. But soon flashes of uncertainly and pain show through his smooth, casual demeanor, and we are trapped along with Jeff. We are unable to look away from this charismatic man, who might be a liar and thief who still manages to be the love of your life. Fielding did an outstanding job when she created the dichotomy that is Cleve Prieto. We understand immediately why Jeff cannot let him go, no matter what his actions say about him. Cleve is the one person who can make Jeff leave his carefully built zone of safety to reach for something more, and we get that immediately.

I think the plot here is thrilling and actually realistic and when the angst and adrenaline kicks in, it does so with a punch right to the gut as Jeff races across Europe with only a vague destination to go along with the goal in mind. Just sensational. And yet here is where my only quibble also makes an appearance. As Jeff arrives in Zagreb, he is on a mission and knows his time is running out, yet Fielding cannot let go of her inner travel agent. Too much time is spent on describing the gray edifices of Zagreb, bland communist buildings everywhere, local food and cafes, even the facial expressions of the denizens as they go about their everyday business. Jeff is too consumed to have noticed all that, intent on his goal and for the reader it just interrupts the flow of the story unnecessarily where the descriptions of Venice enhanced it. Had the descriptive portions of this section of the book been parred down, then this would have the 5 star rating this story deserves.

Kim Fielding is an author I only recently discovered and she went immediately into the “must read” column because her books are so well written and enjoyable. Venetian Masks is a wonder of a book and I cannot recommend it enough. The same goes for its creator. Make note of both and go get this book. You’ll be thanking me even while spending more money to grab up everything else she has written. But start here and prepare to fall in love with Jeff and Cleve and of course, Venice, the City of Love.

Cover Art by Shobana Appavu. This cover is as gorgeous and sumptuous as the story within. One of the best covers of the month and probably of the year.

Snowquestration, A Time Change and the Week Ahead in Book Reviews

For those of you outside of the DC Metropolitan Area, you may not have known but on Wednesday last week this area was expecting a snow storm of “historic” proportions. Forecasters got out their shovels and measuring sticks as the TV channels were full of giddy meteorologists pantomiming digging out driveways and anchors were busy imploring people to be prepared and stay home. Hour by hour the weather alerts increased the amount of snowfall we would see, Pepco our dysfunctional power company sent out text messages and robo called homes letting everyone know that they were on top of things, getting in crews from as far away as Alabama to keep the power on and lines clear of snow (for once). Schools in countries around the area from MD, DC and VA quickly cancelled classes the day before and the Federal Government closed all offices with all local governments following suit just as quickly. Grocery stores ran out of milk and other essentials, so did the liquor and wine stores. Streets emptied, stores shut down and our normally hyped up busy region turned into a ghost town. And we waited for the storm to start.

And we waited for the storm to start some more. Curtains were pulled back, and necks craned up as all eyes searched the sky for the first flakes to fall. And soon they did.

Big, fat, ginormous flakes fell.

And then they stopped falling. And it started to rain. And rain. And more rain.

Why did it rain? Because it had been f*&king warm all week long. A kindergartener could have told you that when it is that warm, it is not going to snow. And it didn’t, at least not here. It snowed in Pennsylvania, and in the mountains of VA, and the Midwest, and New England and out west, everywhere but here. Where it rained. OK we needed the rain, so that was great. But really, our entire region shut down because of rain. Is is any wonder that people outside the Beltway (the huge highway that encircles DC) think our area has lost our collective mind? That common sense and sound judgement are but vague concepts that make only fleeting appearances in the thoughts of those who inhabit Congress, run the World Bank, plot the course of the country on levels both small and large?

What name did we call this “historic” snowstorm? Why Snowquestration of course. That alone made perfect sense. A name that conjures up thoughts of dysfunction, of something that doesn’t work on the most basic level, something thought up in Congress that unfortunately affects everyone but Congress. Really, is that not perfection in labeling? I think so. It was the only thing that rang true for this storm and our area. Pundits will be using this for years in their columns. Ah, Washington, DC you have done it again. So proud to be from this area. But on the other hand it really is good for a laugh and we all need those. We closed the Federal government and schools because of rain. Have you stopped laughing yet?

The time changed. We sprang forward an hour. I hate this. Leave the time alone. Enuf’ said.

So spring is back (not that it ever really left), our DC Metro Book group is meeting today and I must be off. So without further ado, here is the week in reviews:

Monday, March 11: Blacque/Bleu by Belinda McBride

Tuesday, March 12: Venetian Masks by Kim Fielding

Wed., March 13: Silver/Steel by Belinda McBride

Thursday, March 14: Metal Heart by Meredith Shayne

Friday, March 15: Open Cover Before Striking by Willa Okati

Sat., March 16: Unconventional Union by Scotty Cade

Review: His Best Man by Treva Harte

Rating: 3.25 stars

Christian Ramsey finds himself divorced and the sole caregiver of his two girls after 11 years of marriage when his wife walks out the door. The first thing he realizes is that he has no idea of who his children really are or what to do next. During his marriage, Chris was the income earner, and his wife did everything else, including parent his children. Now that it is all on his shoulders, Chris feels incapable of handling the situation and he is not sure he even likes his children. Chris is adrift in his own life and knows it.

Enter Bill Dowe, former best friend, former best man at Chris’ wedding, and former lover of closeted, deep in denial Chris. Bill is now the principal at a local middle school and an incident between one of his school’s students and Chris’ oldest daughter brings the men back together again for the first time in 11 years. During their meeting at the school over the girls altercation, Chris asks Bill for help with his daughter and really his life. Bill is still bitter over Chris’ marriage and his denial about his sexuality but still he finds himself plunging once more into Chris life and his problems. When affection and attraction grow once more between Bill and Chris, will Chris take the chance he denied himself the first time around or will history repeat itself.

I think Treva Harte knows people and it shows when it comes to the characters she has created for this book. They are real people, full of flaws that we all recognize. They behave badly, run from problems when they should have faced them and make really bad personal decisions. They also redeem themselves, show an ability to grow emotionally and adjust to stressful situations. And they accept changes in relationships better than expected, surprising when one there parents. If you discerned that I was talking about the children here, Chris’ daughters, Pen and Annie Ramsey, then you are correct. In my opinion, Pen and Annie make this book. Harte writes tweenagers with a clarity that is astonishing. And trust me, these girls are heartbreaking in that way that only that age can be. Here is eleven year old Antigone “Annie” Ramsey in Bill’s office at school, after hitting another student:

“She wasn’t small for a kid her age, but she looked…well, oddly delicate. Like she was too skinny for that body, too fragile for her size. Like maybe she hadn’t been eating right for a while.

I’d heard of kids her age on diets, but—damn…I hoped she wasn’t. The world could screw with a kid’s head way too early. Did she think she needed to be skinny, or was something going on that made her not eat right? Bulimia, anemia, depression…

“I’m here because Miss Dumberson out there made me.”

I tried not to snort at the nickname. Sometimes I wasn’t much older than my students. Antigone sniffled again and peeked up at me through her eyelashes, probably deciding what kind of bullshit I’d believe. “It wasn’t my fault.”

Pen, her sister is a bundle of realistic complexities herself. Both girls are afraid and uncertain for themselves and their families future .And they react as you expect them to with their mother abandoning them to a emotionally reserved father they only saw after he came home from work. This is desperation with a capital D. And Treva Harte rolls it out there for the reader to see with all the authenticity and gritty realism of a documentary on dysfunctional families. I love these girls and connected with them on an emotional level from the first. And that is my problem with this book. These are not the main characters. With regard to the main characters, I don’t like either Chris or Bill very much, although Bill comes out much better than Chris does.

When the focus of the story is a dysfunctional, emotionally distant man who dislikes his children (mostly because he has absented himself from their lives and doesn’t know them), who runs from confrontation and problems of a personal nature, how do you engage the reader enough for them to make a connection to the character? For me it was one instance after another where Chris handles the situation or his children badly and then waits for Bill to bail him out. Who ends up understanding and taking care of the kids? Chris? Uh, no, that would be Bill. And while I could understand Bill far easier than Chris, he enabled Chris in his behavior and we are meant to approve of that.

Then there is the characterization of Chris’ wife which is very much in the one sided “evil witch” tradition that I despair of when reading m/m stories. Self centered to the point of abandoning her children for a man with more money and status, even a believable backstory is lacking. I could see it if she felt that 11 years in a marriage to a gay man left her unfulfilled, especially if that man was Chris but other than a sentence or two, where is her concern for the girls? I know that there are shallow women out there just like Stephanie, I just wish I didn’t see as many of them as I do in the stories these days. A more even handed approach would seem not only more sympathetic but more realistic.

In the end, I felt for the children, could have cared less what happened to Chris and wished that Bill would grab the kids and run like hell. Not the way one is supposed to feel when reading a contemporary m/m romance. And there is also a bdsm element in play here between Bill and Chris. I could sympathize with Bill taking a strap to Chris, but trust me when I say sexuality didn’t enter into my wishful thinking. Again, probably not what the author had in mind.

But oh those sisters! They deserve a story of their own, where they ride to each others rescue after thwapping a couple of villains (or maybe their parents) over the head. Trust me, these girls are more than capable. I loved them and had the focus been on them, you would have seen an entirely different rating. It is almost worth it to say to read this book for these two characters alone. Almost. So if Treva Harte is a “go to” author for you, you will want to pick up this story. Otherwise, I would wait and see what she comes up with next.

Cover: Cover Artist: Kalen O’Donnell. I am not a fan of red covers, including this one. They are hard to look at and this is especially garish.

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