Review of Leather Work and Lonely Cowboys, a Roughstock Story by BA Tortuga

Rating: 5 stars

Beau is lonely and feeling every moment of Sam’s absence. Not that Sam has left, it’s just that he has become absorbed in the leather working he does as therapy to help his recovery from the accident. So Beau plans a little road trip in their camper hoping that time alone will reignite the heat missing lately in their relationship and force Sam to talk use his voice again, if only in passion.

Leather Work and Lonely Cowboys is absolutely a 5 star story, even if you are unfamiliar with Beau and Sam from previous Roughtstock books. All the of the elements that make BA Tortuga’s stories so compelling and memorable are present. You don’t have to know Beau and Sam’s backstory to understand them. They’re cowboys so deeply in love with each other that they can communicate without words even as Beau is missing the sound of his lover’s voice. BA Tortuga makes us feel each small gesture, each touch exchanged between the two men that becomes magnified within the context of the moment. Even the “pups” and Boudreaux, their Bloodhound have their part to play in helping us understand who these men are and the challenges they are facing in their relationship.

Now having said that you can read this as a stand alone, I say please don’t. You would be shortchanging yourself. Beau and Sam are part of a group of rodeo cowboys that make up the Roughstock stories, tales so rich in emotion, so deep in characterizations and s0 authentic in location that the stories smell of leather, sweat, and livestock. I love all the men involved in this universe Beau and Sam, Coke and Dillon and all the others. Beau and Sam first appear in Roughstock: File Gumbo- Season One. And then keep appearing from Starting the Roux, a Roughstock story as well as in Coke and Dillon’s stories. BA Totuga writes so realistically and with such affection for these men that it translates with ease to the reader and you become entrenched in their world as the characters themselves.

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)

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

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

Review of The Gleams from a Remoter World by Fiona Glass

Rating: 3.75 stars

Chris Mullens is a reporter/investigator for The Paranormal Times and he is slowly coming to the realization that the years have been piling up behind him while he has stayed relatively static. He has remained at the same job for over 10 years, with no social life or partner to speak of. He lives with Jo Perry, his co worker at The Paranormal Times and has been her intermittent bedmate when she wants it. The book he meant to write has never been started and lately all the leads he has followed for paranormal activity have not panned out, either they were hoaxes or just someone’s overactive imagination. The one thing Chris has decided he wants is to win the coveted Moondust Award for the first journalist to prove the existence of ghosts and the next case their editor hands them just might do the trick if its authentic.

Their editor tells them that in the village of Kilveenan, off the coast of Galway in Ireland, there is a church said to be haunted by the ghost of a dead priest’s son, but the twist is that the son supposedly died in the Great War, so why is he haunting his father’s church? Chris readily accepts the assignment and is eager to be off, Jo Perry, his journalistic partner for the story, seems less so. In fact she is starting to sound as though writing about paranormal events are the last thing she wants to do. When the unhappy couple arrive in Kilveenan, they discover it’s not the church that is haunted, but the priest’s house next door and by a spirit so filled with rage that just for Chris to enter the cottage puts his life in jeopardy.

The more Chris investigates the cottage’s history, the more evidence he uncovers that involves, murder, murky family relationships, and a son that never returned to the battlefield. And what little relationship he had with Jo is disintegrating the longer they stay in Ireland. When Chris and Jo meet up with Paulie and Bill, a gay couple on holiday staying at the same inn, Chris’ attraction to Paulie confuses things further for Chris, just when he needs all his attention to be focused on his investigation. The ghost in the cottage is shaking Chris to his foundations, tearing him apart in every way. Will he survive his ghostly encounter?

Gleams from a Remoter World has so many lovely elements to it, especially at this time of year. The first thing that attracted me to the story is the setting. I love Ireland and when a story is situated in a coastal village, you have my attention. But even better is when the village and it’s inhabitants are so beautifully described that you feel a part of the place itself, then mark me down as a happy camper. I loved Glass’ vivid portrait of life lived at the edge of the ocean, cold, wet winds whipping up the cliffs, moisture clinging to every surface. The rain hitting you so hard it pummels you. I loved the variety of people we meet (thank goodness, none are of that Irish leprechaun variety, twinkling eyes sort of thing), more of the brusk common sense type of folk. Had this been a travel guide I would have been booking a flight out immediately. off to see Kilveenan.

I am unfamiliar with all those ghost hunting shows or the people who track down paranormal happenings, so I don’t know anything about the equipment they use. I can see the running around ruins and graveyards (done that myself a time or two) and again the author’s gift for describing the Irish landscapes and buildings give the reader an immediate closeup feeling to the scenes underway. I loved the ghost story here that incorporates all the good elements of a murder mystery, familial relationships, and a love affair that was hidden. The author did a wonderful job of building the suspense with the ghostly apparitions, the drops in temperature that herald the appearance of the angry spirits, the change in color of the surroundings when history unfolds before Chris’ eyes. Also realistic is the boring, tedious research that had to be done into the background of the church and the Anglican priest who presided over it and its members. Fiona Glass made this part feel so very authentic, right down to the dusty tomes and hard to read signatures on ledgers. Again, the author brought this element to life for the readers to the point we could almost breathe the musty air of the small town offices they had to visit for their information.

And then there are the characters of the story and my main quibbles come forward. I can pretty much narrow down my issue with this story to two words: Jo Perry. Chris Mullen, his interaction with the paranormal, and his interest in Paulie should be the main focus of the story. But Jo Perry keeps interfering in almost every way possible, including my enjoyment in the book. This is a m/f story that becomes a m/m story as Chris is clearly bisexual, which is just fine. But the problem is with the amount of time she figures in the story, which is too predominate for my taste and the fact that she is inherently unlikable. Jo Perry is supposedly a long time friend/partner of Chris, they graduated from the university over 20 years prior but does she act like a friend? Not in any way you would recognize. She is distant, dismissive, uses Chris as a sexual partner when it is on her terms but possessive when he looks elsewhere. She is rude, bratty to all about her, treats Chris like a doormat, and it turns out she is homophobic to boot! All of this would have been fine if first she had taken up less of the story, and secondly, the author had the other characters around her react to her behavior in a realistic manner. That did not happen unfortunately.

Then there is the character of Chris Mullen, who I happened to like quite a lot. He is a quiet, thoughtful person whose good nature and calm demeanor seem to make it easy for Jo to take advantage of him. Chris apparently dislikes confrontation to the point of submerging his wants almost completely in deference to other peoples needs and expectations. While some might attribute that to a “lack of backbone”, I can see the glimmerings of a different take on his behavior altogether, such as an inclination towards depression. Two much of this book involves conflicts between these two characters of Chris and Jo instead of centering in on Chris, Paulie, Paulie’s long term partnership with Bill who is suffering from full blown AIDS, and Bill, who I was sure realized that Chris was attracted to his partner. What a wasted story element. This awkward triad had so many interesting elements going for it. Apparently Bill has been suffering from AIDS for three years and this was a “last vacation” for them both. I wanted to know when was he diagnosed with HIV? How had that effected Paulie? When you have a ghost filled with rage, how interesting would that have been to contrast that with the rage/anger of Paulie? Or even Bill? Like I said, a missed opportunity to concentrate on people I wanted to know so much more about than Jo Perry.

We are given one or two hints to explain their behaviors. She is bitter about a divorce, he is “depressed” but neither explanation is gone into detail, and it never redeems her behavior. This is especially true when it turns out that she is homophobic to the point of rudeness and anger, attacking Chris for his bisexuality and the other men for their gay partnership (even one that is critically ill!). Chris’ depression is mentioned once or twice, but it is clear that he has never done anything about it. Then there is the weight around his neck (and the readers) in the form of Jo. Towards the end of the book when she has left (of her own accord by the way), Chris’ boss mentions how much Chris has moved forward in the last several weeks. Does no one in the UK come right out and say “Well, thank god, that soul sucking monster has left the building?” Is that not “done” over there? And for one final blow, literally, to the reader and Chris, on her last appearance, she smacks Chris a hard one across the face when she takes insult over something innocuous he said that she misconstrued. But does he finally let her have it, at least verbally? No, she has her homophobic way one last time. Little by little this character interaction just leached away my good feelings about this book, leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth over abusive behavior given its own reward in a manner of speaking.

So, after all that, it does have a wonderful and wonderfully realistic ending, a HFN that is in keeping with the final two characters I think. It also left me very conflicted over the rating. So much of this book is deserving of a 4 rating or higher from the settings to the paranormal mystery to even the character of Chris Mullen himself. But it is dragged down by the repellant persona of Jo Perry and her over the top involvement in the plot and her overextended presence on the page. I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to pull up a chair next to Fiona Glass, hand her a red pencil and a glass of cabernet and talk about this book! Because really this is ¾ of a wonderful book. Oh well, in any case I will certainly be looking forward to others Fiona Glass writes but color me divided when it comes to Gleams from a Remoter World.

Cover art by LC Chase. I like the gray color tones and the ruins in the background, perfect if you are looking for ghostly ambience for the book cover.

Review of Mine by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.75 stars

Trevan Bean and Landry Carter have a relationship that not many understand but that words for them completely. From the first time Trev saw Landry two years ago at a party, they have been inseparable. Before Trev Bean came into his life, Landry Carter was a troubled young man. He was repudiated by his family for being gay and tumbled into a mess of low self esteem, depression and endless anonymous sexual acts. Then one night, everything changed, Trevan Bean saw him, picked him off his knees, took him to Trev’s home and told Landry he belonged to Trev alone and no one else. From that moment on, Landry began his recovery from pathetic mess to functioning happy human being, at least most of the time. As long as he followed his routine, and knows that Trev is always there, he can run his jewelry store and create the gorgeous things he is becoming known for and be content knowing he is loved.

Trevan Bean, half Cuban half African American, is a complicated man. He comes from a loving family who have depended on him since his father died. To help out his family, he became a money runner for a gambling mob, a job he has to this day. And while Trev has never carried a gun or had to hurt someone, Trev knows it is an illegal job, full of dangerous people and accepts the risks he has to take to make money. Trev plans on buying a restaurant someday and he and Landry have been saving to buy their own house in the not so near future.

So far, he and Landry have been balancing all the complications in their lives and it has been working fine. Until Landry’s youngest brother shows up out of nowhere and wants Landry to come home to see his ailing mother. And Landry starts to unravel. Then one of Trev’s runner associates ends up in a hospital, beaten by a rival mobster and Trev’s job is thrown into chaos by a gang war. Not only is his safety threatened, but so is the wellbeing of everyone he loves, including Landry. Their carefully maintained balancing act is demolished, their lives in jeopardy and it will take everything they have and more to make sure they come out of this mess with their relationship intact and their love stronger than ever.

I just loved this book and think it is one of Mary Calmes strongest stories yet. The characters she has created are two of the most complicated and damaged people she has ever produced. One, Trev Bean, is an interracial mobster with his own slippery morality, a strong code of loyalty and an unwavering love for Landry Carter. He is aware that Landry has some serious emotional problems that can cause Landry anxiety, manic behavior, and even result in self destructive acts. But Trev also knows he is the key to Landry’s stability, and whether he is an enabler or not, Trev will do what he thinks is right to keep Landry safe and happy. Trev is under no illusions about his own morality or mental issues as well. He accepts it all as it comes with a forthright manner and calm demeanor. Just an amazing protagonist, compelling in every way.

Landry is also as damaged and riveting a persona as Trev, the yin to Trev’s yang. He is the flickering flame to the earthen rock that is Trev. His instability, his is a luminescence which will burn too brightly unless contained by Trev and a strict routine, His emotional problems are never given a diagnosis but OCD is mentioned briefly. He is just as likely to flair with anger as he is with passion and you can see as a reader how badly Landry has needed someone like Trev in his life to bring him the balance and limitations he has always needed so badly. For some, these two men represent an unhealthy relationship, something even Trev recognizes. But what they have together also works for them, and they will fight to keep each other and their relationship intact. Convoluted, messy, passionate, occasionally crazied and absolutely committed, what an amazing relationship to bring to life in this story. And Mary Calmes does bring it vividly to life in every possible way. These characters cry, threaten, have hot, passionate sex, and tender moments and we are there with them through every event, every step forward, and all threats to their happiness. I loved both men from the start, and by the end of the book, hated to let either of them go.

And there are other fascinating characters within Mine that I wanted much more of, the most visible and intriguing of them is Conrad, a hit man’s hit man, an enforcer so dangerous that just his name means protection. Conrad doesn’t have many he counts as friends but Trev is one of them. The man remains an enigma even as his very presence adds weight to the events that occur within the story. From what I understand, this is a stand alone story so we cannot expect to see these characters again. And that is a shame for these are such interesting, gripping people and we have become so invested in their lives and happiness that wanting to know more about them and their future is a given by the end of the book.

I only wish we had a little more exposition at the end, a little more resolution to the dramatic events they had just gone through. But perhaps that’s just being greedy and not wanting the story to end. If you like unusual main characters, if you like your protagonists with a twist as well as love, pick this book up and be prepared to not put it down until you are finished. It is that good!

Cover: Reese Dante’s beautiful torso with the all important L tat is gorgeous. My only complaint and to be honest I am not sure how it could have been done, is to have made that skin color more in line with the racial makeup of Trev’s caramel or dark bronze coloring as he calls it. At any rate it is gorgeous and sexy and so very hot.

Review: Love Comes Silently by Andrew Grey

Rating: 5 stars

When artist Ken Brighton moved himself, boyfriend, and adopted daughter, Hanna to Pleasanton, Michigan, it was because Ken thought the rural environment and schools would be a wonderful place to raise Hanna and he could paint with inspiration all around him. Instead, Hanna is diagnosed with pediatric leukemia and all his time, energy, and attention is focused on his daughter to his boyfriend’s dismay. One day, his boyfriend Mark announces that their relationship is over, Mark is sorry about the timing but he needs more than Ken is willing or able to give. Now Ken is left totally alone, raising Hanna by himself,hoping that she will be able to beat the cancer and feeling so despondent that he has stopped painting. Then mysterious care packages for Hanna start to arrive on his doorstep, bringing joy for his daughter and hope back into their lives. If only he knew who was responsible.

Former singer Patrick Flaherty knows something about pain, and the loss of hope. He was once a famous singer but an accident changed all that and plunged him into a world where he would never speak or sing again. Devastated Patrick retreats into silence and the small house he bought from his mother. Then he notices his new neighbors and watches the changes that occur next door as the months go by. When he realizes that the young girl whose father dotes on is critically ill, something changes inside him. He slowly reaches out to Ken and offers a small measure of assistance when Ken needs it. The closer he becomes to Ken and Hanna, the dreams he once had of love and family start to come alive once more. Ken’s goodness is only matched by his attractiveness and Hanna is a joy in every way. It hurts to watch her illness progress and as Patrick tries to make life easier for his neighbors, his involvement in their lives sparks him to life once more.

Ken knows he is foundering, just the thought that he might lose Hanna to this disease is killing him. The only bright spot in their lives is their silent neighbor, Patrick. Always there offering help, shoring Ken up when he needs it the most, his silent presence sometimes all Ken needs to keep from breaking apart all together. Slowly a relationship starts to form between Ken and Patrick. When Mark wants to come back into Ken’s life, will Patrick find a way to communicate his love to Ken? And does Ken have anything left over to give and is it Patrick he wants to spend his life with?

Andrew Grey had me from the very first scene as Ken races with fevered Hanna to the hospital and gets a silent assist from an unknown man who turns out to be Patrick. A father’s fear over his daughter’s illness and the terrifying race to the hospital over snowy roads to the Marquette hospital leaps from the pages and into our hearts. From that moment on, our sympathies are engaged in this small family. Ken’s heartbreak on hearing Hanna’s diagnosis is our heartbreak, his tears are ours as he sits alone in the hospital. This is every parents worst nightmare come to life. We cry along with him every horrifying step of the way. From diagnosis to each treatment young Hanna has to endure, the loss of her hair, and the pain and exhaustion that is part of the tole cancer is taking on her body. Andrew Grey gives us an accurate portrayal of a child with cancer without yielding to the temptation of saccharine, overly dramatic scenes that a child in distress could bring to the story. Instead, Grey gives us a realistic depiction of a father dealing with his daughter’s critical illness. Ken’s total focus is on Hanna, as it should be. He can’t paint, household chores are forgotten, along with his own meals. Only Hanna and cancer exist for him. And we get that, absolutely.

Grey’s characters felt so real, became so compelling that I forgot at times they weren’t alive. And while our attention is drawn first to Ken and Hanna, who I adored, Patrick slowly turns our gaze on him. Wrapped in silence, Patrick has retreated in every way from life. He has taken up wood working as a career, perfect as it allows him to continue to live in isolation. But his silent life is broken into shards when Ken and Hanna move into the neighborhood. Hidden in his house, Patrick watches all three move in and then Marc move out. He helped the first night that Ken took Hanna to the hospital and watched as the joyful little girl turned weak and her beautiful hair falls out. And he determines to do something, anything to help them, and in doing so, helps himself to live once more. Beautiful, just beautiful. How I loved watching Patrick emerge from his self imposed isolation through his kindness to Hanna and then face his growing attraction to Ken. Andrew Grey does a great job of contrasting Patrick’s stumbling journey back to life with the ups and downs that Hanna is subjected to during the treatments for cancer. We are afraid to rejoice too much for each character, fearing that one or both would stall in their progress to health and life.

No quibbles here. I think that Love Comes Silently might be one of my all time favorite Andrew Grey books, and that is saying a lot when you look at the bounty of books he has produced. If you are a parent like I am, this will hit you doubly hard. And then the joy at the end is also increased two fold. If you don’t have children, you will still love this book as much as I did for the stories of lives reborn, dreams recaptured, and life promise renewed once more. Please pick this one up and fall deep under the spell of Ken, Hanna, and Patrick. I know you will love them as much as I do.

Cover: L.C. Chase has captured moments of this terrific story beautifully in the elements of this cover, especially the vibrant pink child’s hat.

Review of Texas Heat (Texas #3) by RJ Scott

Rating: 4.75 stars

Riley and Jack Campbell-Hayes are hoping that the trauma of the past is finally behind them and their families. Jack’s mother Donna is remarrying and all have gathered for the celebration, Jack is expanding the ranch holdings into training quarter horses and Riley is moving his “green” energy exploration business forward just as he always wanted. Veterinarian Neil Kendrick is marrying the love of his life, Donna Campbell. Neil is aware of the complicated feelings of some of her family have with her marriage to a much younger, less wealthy man, so he brings along a good friend, Robbie Curtis, for support.

Robbie has just landed back in the States from a long stay in Australia that ended badly for him. An experienced horse trainer, Robbie is just the person Jack needs to help with his new business and Robbie settles uneasily into life on the Double D Ranch. Then Eli Martin, Riley’s old friend from college, reappears on the scene. Loud, energetic,and a force of nature, Eli is now a fashion photographer and wants to use The Double D as a backdrop for underwear campaign using cowboys. Eli takes one look at Robbie and decides that cowboy is the one for him. Now all he had to do is convince him.

But Robbie is still full of pain from the events in Australia and Eli is hiding a secret of his own, facts that will make a relationship much harder for both of them. Haley, Riley and Jack’s daughter wants a sibling and a former competitor wants to sabotage Riley’s latest oil exploration venture. Nothing ever comes easy for the married couple and those that surround them. But even with 20 half naked cowboys lounging around the barns and the gay rodeo in town, Riley and Jack’s rock solid love proves to be the answer for all that life throws at the people of the Double D.

Texas Heat is the third book in the Texas series from R.J. Scott and what a terrific series it is. Starting with the book The Heart of Texas, we have followed the relationship up and downs of Riley Hayes and Jack Campbell through blackmail, marriage, murder and the barn burnings of Texas Winter (Texas #2) to finally arrive at a happy state for both men and their families. And what a long hard road they have had to travel but Scott has done her job in giving us two great characters to start off with and then continuing to flesh them out and surround them with equally interesting families to support them and add their own drama and surprises. It really is the tale of two families whose pasts interconnected through passion and business decades earlier, the reverberations of those events passing through all generations to effect the current generations in the form of Jack and Riley. We have watched as Riley Hayes grow from petulant pretty boy obsessed with his own ends to happily married man concerned for the welfare of both families he has come to love. Jack has also grown in his love for Riley, lessening his suspicion of others as well as his need for control. Seeing both men at this stage in their lives as fathers to Haley and husbands and businessmen is one of the true joys of this book. We have been through so much with them that their happiness here becomes ours.

In addition to Jack, Riley, Haley, and all the rest of the families from the first two books, Scott gives us Eli Martin and Robbie Curtis, a fascinating couple in every respect. Robbie has been hurt emotionally from the loss of a partner and is afraid to open himself up to the possibility of love and perhaps more loss. Eli was with Riley through his irresponsible years, in fact he was co pilot of them as well. But a life changing event now sees Eli grabbing out with gusto for everything life has to offer. If he sees it and wants it, Eli goes after it without thinking it through. How can two such disparate men make a relationship work? There are no easy solutions and it takes both men taking a realistic look at what they want and what they can offer each other. We get a realistic vision of a relationship in progress.

What I continue to appreciate with RJ Scott’s writing, no matter the series, is that even as our emotions are engaged with two couples at differing stages of their relationships, other events are swirling around the outskirts just waiting to come forward with a jump and a bang. Scott keeps juggling a number of plots in her story but never lets one drop. There are so many layers to appreciate and think about that when the end of the book comes the author has a structure in place for the next in the series without losing reader satisfaction with the current story.

I can’t wait to see how the next book continues the saga of the Campbell-Hayes family and the fortunes of the Double D Ranch. Who needs Dallas when you have the Double D? If you have started the series, don’t forget to pick this one up. If you are new to Scott’s Texas books, start with The Heart of Texas and work your way to this one. They need to be read in the order they were written. RJ Scott rarely disappoints and here she comes through with bells on her cowboys boots and then some. Don’t let the Campbell-Hayes pass you by!

Here is the Texas series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and the events involved.

The Heart of Texas(Texas #1)

Texas Winter (Texas #2)

Texas Heat (Texas #3)

Thank you, Nationals and the Week Ahead in Reviews

Well, as everyone knows by now, the Cards rallied and the Nats lost. But oh what a season they gave us! The Nationals had an outstanding year, giving the city something we haven’t seen in close to a century, a winning baseball team in DC. We have Davey Johnson, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Jason Wurth, Gio Gonzales, Ryan Zimmerman and all the others to thank for all the glorious play, the unbelievable pitches, the outstanding hits and the high drama of the outfield. It was great! And now we have all winter to dream of the return of the Boys of Summer. Great job and thanks for the wonderful memories!

The weather seems more like November than mid October these days with our first frost occurring on Friday. A portent of a hard winter to come? Perhaps. We didn’t actually have a winter last year but I just hope Mother Nature doesn’t feel the need to make up for that and give us the snow and ice for two winters. At any rate, the plants are getting mulched and the gardens prepared, just in case. The generator is in, new roof on and gutters as well. I hope we are prepared but you never know until it comes. At least I have lots of books to read and pumpkin spice coffee to drink. Sigh.

Here is the week ahead in book reviews:

Monday: Steamroller by Mary Calmes

Tuesday: Texas Heat by RJ Scott

Wednesday: The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux

Thursday: Rocking Out by Emily Veinglory

Friday: Three of Swords by Theo Fenraven

Saturday: Theory of Attraction by Cleon Lee and Just A Summer Fling by Lily Grace

Review: By The River (Elementals #1) by Katey Hawthorne

Rating: 4.5 stars

Adam Kavanaugh has returned to his home town and family after having lived for several years in a series of other cities and towns after college. A broken relationship, a series of them really, meant he had to start up his life again and this time Ashton, WV called him back home. But fitting back into the sleepy pace of small town life is not going as smoothly as Adam thought it would. His young brother TJ is as resentful of Adam’s return as he was of his brother’s leaving town years before. For TJ, life is should be lived in Ashton, under the shadow of the Appalachians and he has never forgiven his brother for leaving him and the family behind when Adam could have gone to Trinity College right in town as TJ is now doing. TJ has also never understood Adam’s bisexuality and the relationship between the two is strained.

Now back in town, Adam’s life falls into a strange sort of stasis. He spends his days painting a mural on the wall in the small clapboard house he bought, he works and games and avoids phone calls from old friends still in town. And Adam runs a set path through town and along the Ohio River three days a week, trying to make it all seem like home once more. But a chance encounter with a strange young man floating in the Ohio shatters Adam’s inertia.

Leith Marshall is a member of TJ’s college swim team so Adam recognizes at once the form floating in silence on the surface of the Ohio River. At first, Adam thought that something must be wrong and races to the river’s edge only to find Leith bobbing contentedly in the current. Which was odd in of itself. The Ohio was a fast, snarly, dark river and Leith looked totally at ease within it’s embrace. When Leith emerges from the river to respond to Adam’s shout, Adam admires Leith’s beautiful swimmers body barely covered by a pair of grey briefs. But it’s Leith shy smile and gentle ways that have Adam falling hard within a matter of days. But the more Leith lets Adam into his life, the more off kilter Leith’s life seems. Leith and his father live above an abandoned aquarium store that used to belong to Leith’s absent mother. Leith’s father has some strange ideas concerning his son and water. Everything about Leith seems connected in some way to water. Leith cannot stay away from it for any length of time, whether he is swimming in the Ohio or splashing about in a bathtub. And when Adam hears Leith sing in a strange haunting language, the idea of a siren’s song springs to mind. The more Adam falls in love with Leith, the less it matters that Leith might be more than human. Right up until Leith’s father reminds Adam of his wife’s strange disappearance when the ocean’s call become too strong. What will happen when Leith says he wants to see the ocean too?

What an utterly beguiling story. By The River has a quiet, mesmerizing rhythm to it, pulsing with life as it relates the story of a young man who might just be as elemental as water itself. With her wonderful characterizations and vivid descriptions of a setting that is clearly close to the author’s heart, Katey Hawthorne builds a story of a love between two men that becomes so strong, so elemental in nature that even the idea of loss cannot break it.

I love the mystery that surrounds Leith Marshall from the moment we meet him, floating effortlessly on top of a river whose currents churn around him to little effect. Even his name Leith means broad river in English, and has a origin in Lethe, the Greek river of forgetfulness. Leith and water are so intimately intwined that he cannot bear to be parted from it for any length of time and is at his most content when he is immersed in it. Leith and his father Mr. Marshall, a bitter, isolated man, live in a building that once housed his mother’s aquarium shop, until a flood demolished it and his mother disappeared. Now just Leith and his father live among the remnants of their former lives, empty dusty tanks and peeling posters of fish still hanging off the walls downstairs, while the sounds of water lapping up against the shore that is their backyard echo around them. The author pulls us in with her minute attention to the uniqueness that is Leith. He “smells like fresh rainwater”, his eye color changes in accordance with the nearest body of water, and Leith loves to read in the old store where the sounds of the river is the strongest. Detail by detail, Hawthorne builds an aura of mystery around Leith’s very nature. And yet we also understand Adam’s complete acceptance of Leith’s strangeness as a part of someone he loves because we have come to love Leith as well. The love between Adam and Leith flows like water over everything before it, including all the obstacles and arguments that others like TJ throw in its path.

I loved Adam as well. Adam is someone on hold but who can’t figure out the reason for his ennui. Adam is waiting, poised for change and it arrives in the form of Leith. Adam has been a serial monogamist with a number of boyfriends and girlfriends right up until his last breakup which really didn’t upset him as much as it should. Again, it’s as though he knew he was waiting for someone else to come before he could finally commit, focusing inward so much that Adam’ self centered behavior adversely affects his relationship with his brother, TJ. And then he commits himself to Leith with an ease of effort that sends TJ in a rage even as he fears for them both as out gays in a small West Virginia town not always tolerant of those who are different. Katey Hawthorne adds layer upon layer to her authentic portrait of small town life, until Ashton becomes gritty, real, and memorable as any of her characters.

As Leith surges and flows with life so does Adam but in his own way. Adam’s tolerant, accepting personality is necessary if Leith is truly to be a part of his life. The weirdness that is Leith continues when Adam meets Mr. Marshall who he views as more of a keeper than father to his lover. But the man’s torment and pain over the loss of his Scottish wife breaks through Adam’s anger on Leith’s behalf. But the pity he sees in the man’s eyes as he talks about losing his son to the ocean the same way as his wife unsettles Adam when he realizes the pity he sees is for him. That the father thinks Adam is on the same path he took with Leith’s mother is clear. And when the boys leave town for a short visit to the sea, the scene where Mr. Marshall says goodbye to his son is overwhelmingly painful and sad.

Although the name selkie is never used, it is implied that Leith’s mother was a Scottish Selkie who resumed her seal form when the call of the ocean became too great. Or at least that is clearly what the father believes. Is Leith magical? He certainly is to Adam, and to his father. I feel there is a murkiness as well as a mystique that lurks just underneath the surface of the story, just as opaque as the Ohio river that Leith loves so much. I loved the ending of this story, especially because for me it can be interpreted two different ways. For me, the nature of the ending of By The River has all the fluidity of water itself as buoyant love the boys feel for each other carries them along with the currents, caught in the ebb and flow of the tides. The journey to get to this end point was wondrous, sexy and natural for Adam and Leith and the reader. And the last vision we see of Leith is a promise but of what? I think it is up to each person to come to their conclusions as to what happens next, to believe in what has been said between the lovers or the pull of something quite different. How I loved this and I wait eagerly for the next installment in the series. I know the author won’t let us down.

Cover artist Mina Carter does a gorgeous job giving us a cover that delights from gorgeous male torsos to the falcon tattoo that figures within the story.

Review of In Excess by Quinn Anderson

Rating: 4.25 stars

Nikolas Steele, street smart foster kid, finds himself in the Dean’s office at the Academy of Holy Names, a private exclusive college, enrolling for the sophomore year. Nik had been expelled from his previous university and now through the goodness of a donor with a fondness for troubled youths, has a full scholarship for all three years of his undergraduate degree here at the Academy if only he can keep his grades up (easy) and out of trouble. Staying out of trouble has never been easy for Nik for most of his unsettled history but the atmosphere at this exclusive school with its silverware and china at the student dining room and dorms full of overprivileged kids just emphasizes to Nik his “fish out of water” status on campus.

To make matters worse, Nik has come to the attention of the local kings of the campus. Seth, Dante, and Theo are the three kings who rule over all who attend the Academy of Holy Names. Together out of mutual self preservation, they epitomize all that is beauty, intelligence and power at the school but not necessarily kindness. When bored, the three play a game with high stakes, the winner taking the Class Valedictorian spot all three want. Currently the game is tied between them but with the arrival of Nik, the three of them start the game again. The goal? The first to get Nik into bed wins the game. The rules? No alcohol, no underhandedness among each other, and above all, no falling for the prey. But Nik is smart and figures out he is the center of the game and switches roles. What happens when the hunted becomes the hunter?

In Excess looked like a male version of Mean Girls in the beginning of the story, with a nice outsider becoming the prey for a gang of overly privileged rich kids who are the ruling click in school. Nik Steele is an immediately likable main character. He’s a foster kid, who has been moved around most of his life and from the little background history you are given, he has recently been expelled from a college he was happy at, at least for a while. So when he arrives at the office of the Dean of the college, with it’s opulent furnishings to go along with the rich descriptions of the college campus and buildings, you get it! He is the poor kid on campus you are supposed to root for and do. Every part of the Academy of Holy Name is over the top, from the hallways, marble floors, top chef dinners and even the uniform to be worn while attending. Only the finest materials, only the best furniture, and the most exquisite of landscaping to the vaunted architecture of the college that highlights the difference between Nik and the rest of the student body.

The kings themselves are physically interesting, especially Theo with his artfully colored red hair and mint green eyes. Seth and Dante are equally gorgeous if not a little more generic in appearance. One of my quibbles with Quinn Anderson is with the characterizations. All of the main characters has some really interesting components to their personalities, especially Theo with his calm demeanor tied in with his deep thoughts and hidden agenda. The problem is that Theo is not part of the main couple, Seth is. And Seth is given so little back history that it is hard to feel something other than disgust at his behavior. Anderson needs to give us a reason to understand why his pride is so important to him that all his actions are geared towards shoring it up. We need to understand him in order to like him despite his actions towards Nik, and that full understanding is never reached, at least in my opinion. Dante too seems little more than a cardboard character comprised of his handsome visage, his perfect taste in clothes, wine and apartment decor. Yet as one of the “Kings of Campus” surely we should be given more of his backstory as well. We are given to understand that Theo, Seth and Dante grew up together but other than a few sentences telling us they sabotaged each others science projects, stole each others text books or slashed each others tires, we have no idea where they came from or how their little group came into being. Only Nik comes forward as a living, breathing person, flawed with a chip on his shoulder that we totally get. But as with the others, I wanted to know more about Nik’s history. What happened to make him a foster child? He seems so very grounded in his own skin and personality for someone shifted from place to place. Where does that strength of character come from? The characters and story needs a solid foundation upon which to build the framework for the plot and it doesn’t have one.

That said, the author does deliver some great little touches with the plot and timeline. Anderson throws us some great surprises just when we least expect it and ends up with a plot much deeper in complexity than its outlines suggest. In fact, the manner in which Anderson delivers the narrative underscores the problems with the lack of depth in characterization when held up against the rest of the novel. It’s that very unevenness between the two that pulls the entire story down. I absolutely loved parts of this story, I love the surprises that pop up within Anderson’s tale, and I liked the main characters for the most part. The sex is hot and steamy, so much so that I kept thinking “what age are these kids?” so experienced did the sex play come across. A slight quibble but in keeping with the inconsistencies I found throughout the novel.

This is the first book I have read by Quinn Anderson and now I am going to search out more by this author based on the promise and details I love from In Excess. I do recommend reading In Excess because there is so much to admire about the story and Anderson’s descriptive writing. Let me know what you think, ok?

Cover. Normally I am a fan of London Burden but this cover leaves me cold.

Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane

Rating: 5 stars

All it took was one look at Deacon Winter putting Lucy Star through her paces in the workout ring for Carrick Francis to fall in love. At first Carrick, aka “Crick”, thought it was the horse he loved and the farm called The Pulpit where the horse lived. But it wasn’t long before the “little Mex kid” as his stepfather Bob called him, realized that the beautiful boy in the ring was his true and final love. Deacon Winter was everything that was fine as far as Crick was concerned. He was patient, beautiful with his green-hazel eyes and sun streaked blond hair. Deacon was also silent, being painfully shy. For Deacon hardly ever talked but when he did, Crick listened. When Deacon’s dad took Crick home one evening and realized how bad the situation was with Crick’s stepfather, Parrish Winter told Crick’s mom that he would be taking the boy every weekend to help at the farm. Those weekends became Crick’s salvation, and refuge as Crick’s stepfather became ever more abusive. Crick stayed only to protect his younger sister from Bob’s rage.

As the years flew by, Crick’s love for Deacon thrived and deepened. As did Deacon’s love for Crick, as everyone around them but Crick knew. Just when Crick was set to leave for college, Deacon’s father dies and Crick stays in Levee Oaks to help run The Pulpet with Deacon. The sexual tension between them grows to the breaking point and Deacon gives in to Crick’s advances with tragic consequences for both of them. Crick takes Deacon’s stunned behavior after they make love as a rejection and makes an impulsive decision that will haunt both of them for the rest of their lives. Deacon is actually just stunned to recognize the depths of the feelings that Crick has carried within him for Deacon all these years. When Deacon realizes that his hesitation has been taken as rejection he runs after Crick but it is too late. He is gone.

The loss of Crick almost destroys Deacon. The separation does the same for Crick, the two men left demoralized and despondent by one rash decision. But the men had also made a promise to each other. “I need you, like I want you. Always and forever. I want you like I love you. Always and forever. Consider that a promise.” Now if only the world will listen and let them make that promise a certainty.

Keeping Promise Rock is one of my all time favorite reads. It’s my “go to” book when I need comfort, it’s the book I grab when I need to revisit old friends, curled up on a long winter’s night. It’s the book I reach for when I want to lose myself in beloved universe, full of people I have come to love and events that take me one more time on an immensely satisfying roller coaster ride of emotions. There’s tears of joy to go with the heartbreak and overwhelming love to conquer the despair of the events within. How I cherish this book.

Amy Lane is a master of characterization and the people she has created for Keeping Promise Rock are as timeless as they are memorable. We meet both Deacon and Crick as teenagers and watch them mature into men dealing with the tumultuous events that life has thrown at them. And not once does it ever feel less than completely real. It’s not just the depth and dimension of each character that makes them so authentic, it’s their dialog too. I could have someone read a conversation from the book between Crick, Deacon, and Deacon’s friend, Jon to me and I would never be confused as to which “voice” I am hearing. In fact, most of the time I am so completely enveloped in the story that I am shocked to find that the hours have flown by as I read.

Amy Lane understands people so well that how her characters react to life’s roadblocks and misunderstandings comes across as being as true to life as possible. It doesn’t matter whether Deacon is reacting to Crick fighting in the high school hallway or a devastated Crick sitting at Deacon’s hospital bedside after a car accident, trying to find the courage to tell Deacon what he had done. Every circumstance the boys find themselves in is a place others would find familiar. There is bullying, both at home and at school. And being out and gay in a high school where tolerance is an issue along with the consequences that comes with trying to deal with the issues stemming from intolerance in the classroom and on the playing field. The author gives us parental abuse where there should have been love and support. And we see how growing up under those conditions will leave their mark on the person, both in behavior and trust.

With that foundation laid, then certain actions become not only understandable but relatable. Lane never lets us forget that her characters conduct or behavior stems from a source that has a basis in reality. The fact that life is unfair can be visited upon the unwary in so many ways and Amy Lane delivers that emotional moment to us time and again and never to less than shattering impact. But if Amy Lane is outstanding in delivering life’s blows and making us feel them along with her characters, she is also balances the pain they feel with life’s joys and successes. We celebrate as they do when life and love comes triumphantly together, knowing full well that the path getting to that point was as hard and tortuous as real life itself.

What can be better than this? With Amy Lane’s books we acknowledge life’s fleeting moments and their impact in peoples lives as well as those relationships that speak of permanence and the costs carried with them. We get insight into human interactions no matter the age through characters like Deacon, Crick, Benny, Jon, and many others we want to visit again and again. Luckily for us, Amy Lane feels the same way, as Keeping Promise Rock is the first in the Promise series. Start with Keeping Promise Rock and read them all. You will love them as much as I do.

Here is the Promises series in the order they were written and should be read to throughly understand the characters and the events mentioned:

Keeping Promise Rock (Promises #1)

Making Promises (Promises #2)

Living Promises (Promises #3)

Paul Richmond’s wonderful cover is perfect for the story within.

Review of Fallen Sakura by April Moone

Rating: 2.75 stars (and that’s generous)

Sitting in his favorite spot, Manga artist Kobayashi Haru is watching the cherry blossums fall when he spies Sakurai Aki near him. Sakurai Aki’s cool beauty is mesmerizing and soon Haru is trying to engage the man in a conversation and asking for his phone number which Sakurai reluctantly gives him. Hokayashi Haru knows he falls in love easily and is just coming off a bad relationship but something about the withdrawn Sakurai draws Haru in and captures his affections.

But Sakurai Aki seems to be straight and Haru tries to hide his feelings even as their friendship progresses forward. Haru is forthcoming about his feelings, his friends, his family, even his ex but Sakurai remains a mystery. Sakurai doesn’t offer any information about himself to Haru and Haru accepts this even when their relationship turns sexual. Haru starts to think he has found his perfect man in Sakurai until his past is revealed to Haru in a manner unspeakably painful and shocking. Feeling betrayed , Haru cuts off the relationship and all communication with Sakurai Aki, listening to his friends. But his heart has a different idea when Sakurai returns to him asking for forgiveness.

What a mess of a book. I was really looking forward to this as a Japanese setting and characters hit many of my buttons but I can say that this entire story is a real miss in almost every respect. What I can’t figure out is where to place the blame? It’s not with the plot, that’s ok. It’s not even with the secondary characterizations or even the character of Sakurai Aki. The whole blighted mess falls directly on the shoulders of the main character of Kobayashi Haru. This character and the author’s viewpoint is the issue here.

Take one hot mess of a main character and tell the story from his POV. This can work if the character’s problems are part of the storyline. Great books are full of characters full of faults, compulsions, and phobias if that is used to the plot’s advantage and makes sense within the whole of the story, whether you are dealing with hubris or redemption or both. It can be used effectively in humorous stories full of whacky characters doing wonderfully crazy things or books about society and cultural expectations. I am sure that just reading this brought a number of books to mind in every genre. Whether the characters are flying over the cuckoo’s nest or having sex in the city, solving crimes and chasing pigs about the English countryside, I normally take these creations to heart with all the appreciation and verve of a starving woman at Thanksgiving dinner.

None of that happens here. Let me give you a list of Haru’s characteristics and I think you will get an idea of where I am going here. Kobayashi Haru is:

A 28 year old Manga artist, supposedly shy with a predilection for relationships with men who beat him, abuse him, are into rough sex and pay no attention to his sexual needs. Haru is also a binge drinker with limited friends. Actually he has one friend, Jeff his American co worker and his Japanese wife. They are rightfully concerned about him but he disregards their advice and assistance. He talks to his dead mother (his father left early on) and while he says he is ok with his sexuality, it comes across as a timorous acceptance of his gayness. Haru feels that the beatings inflicted upon him by his latest boyfriend were his fault, and while Haru can’t stand to have his ex’s name mentioned, he wants to talk to him and explain the event that precipitated their breakup. And that breakup? Kenichi the ex boyfriend becomes jealous about not being invited to a party, so he beats and kicks Haru unmercifully until Jeff intervenes and then spits on Haru before leaving Haru broken and crying on the floor, not for the first time. In addition to being a victim of domestic violence, Haru also has all the emotional maturity of a teenager who throws tantrums, throws money in his friend’s face (a serious cultural no no) upon hearing advice he knows to be true and then starts drinking himself into a stupor all over again. This guy doesn’t need one 12 step program, he needs a gazillion of them to cover all his issues.

Right about now, you are probably thinking either that Haru needs to find a therapy group to attend 24/7 to work on his issues or that we will be looking at a serious take on domestic abuse within the Japanese culture or at least domestic violence within the gay community, an under reported crime no matter the country. Nope, not at all. You see, Haru is supposed to be a “happy, positive, naive” man child character that all look at with adoration and love. All the serious issues and character flaws are given light hearted treatments that never addresses the serious nature of the problems this character has been endowed with. The significant question as to why Haru needs to fall in love quickly with men so obviously damaged, why he lets them treat him in an abusive manner? All brushed under the rug with a simplistic “oh I deserve better” epiphany at the end. The binge drinking and immaturity? Nope, never addressed. And the fact that he relentlessly pursues an emotionally withdrawn “straight” man in Sakurai Aki? I think we are supposed to find that commendable, that he goes for what he wants even though it is also stated that Haru is intensely shy. *head desk*

Believe it or not, it actually gets worse. When Sakurai Aki’s “secret” is revealed, Haru is shocked to find out that Sakurai is gay even though Sakurai never said that he was straight. This was an assumption on Haru’s part and a strange one after they have made love innumerable times with Sakurai being the most attentive and tender lover Haru has ever had. You see, Haru thought that turning “straight” Sakurai Aki gay meant that Haru is special. So finding out that he was gay all along somehow negates that “specialness” for Haru. And the rest of the secret? Well, lets just say Haru’s blithe disregard of condoms, to Sakurai’s dismay, was not a good idea at all, but was in keeping with his emotional immaturity. Haru wants Sakurai when he thinks he’s straight? And is upset to find out he’s gay? Emotional immaturity and teenage expectations seem to reign supreme here.

You won’t find this hard to believe but the character I liked (other than the reasonable Jeff) is Sakurai Aki. Had he been a real character, I would have been telling him to report Haru as a stalker and giving him cab money out of the city, along with the advice to “run, just run”. But no, this is a HEA which begs more questions as to why than I have space to answer. Mostly, I want to know what the author was thinking. How do you bring up all these issues and imbue your main character with all these serious flaws and not address them? And no, “I like me, I really like me” is not addressing them. The spitting on the face? Serious cultural taboo not dealt with in a book that makes a big issue of the American character’s intentionally incorrect Japanese terminology. I did some investigation and found that domestic violence in Japan is a growing problem not addressed by laws and regulations but that was never brought up here either. All in all I am just floored by April Moone’s cavalier treatment of so many serious issues. This is the first book by April Moone that I have read so I have no other reference to judge her writing by to see if this is a typical story of hers. I certainly hope not. I wouldn’t wish this book on any reader that I know of.

“A fallen blossom does not return to the branch; a broken mirror cannot be made to shine”. —Japanese proverb. This proverb opens the story Fallen Sakura. It’s too bad that the author did not take it to heart. Or maybe she did not understand it. For this broken mirror was shattered from the start and nothing that followed could ever put it right.

Cover: Beautiful cover by Anne Cain. This book does not deserve it.

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