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

Rating: 4.5 stars

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 4.5 stars

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Taste of Love (Darryl Hansen and Billy Weaver)

A Serving of Love (Sebastian Franklin and Robert Fortier)

A Helping of Love (Peter Christopoulos and Russ Baker)

A Slide of Love (Marcus Wilson and Gregory Southland)

Review: The Legend of the Apache Kid by Sarah Black

Rating: 4.75 stars

Dr. Raine Magrath is lazing about in a hotel hot tub when he sees young Apache Johnny Bravo and his grandfather by the side of the pool. Johnny is in town for his first film festival and to meet with a man about the independent film Johnny has made. When Johnny joins Raine in the hot tub, they make an immediate connection with each other and Raine asks Johnny to look him up in Taos if he ever visits. Then Johnny and his grandfather disappear and it is another year before they meet again.

When Raine walked into The Peaceful Bean to get his morning coffee, he was surprised to see he knows the new guy behind the counter. It was the Apache film maker he had met a year ago at the film festival. Johnny Bravo was in Taos and it looked like he now lived here. Johnny had gone home with his grandfather until the cancer killed him and then went looking for Raine. The connection they felt at their first meeting is as strong as ever and getting stronger with each passing conversation. And when Raine takes him home to the family ranch he shares with his father, he semi jokingly introduces Johnny as his new boyfriend, something that becomes reality. With the arrival of Johnny’s 8 year old cousin, Weasel, the men start to form a family, cemented by love of the land, history, family, and each other.

But Johnny has another love, film making. He’s a genius at it and Hollywood is beckoning by the way of the Sundance Festival. And when he begs Raine not to put any chains on him, Raine knows that for them to succeed, he must be prepared to let Johnny go and chase his dreams. When Johnny heads off to the Sundance Film Festival, the welcome his film gets is overwhelming with offers to work out in Hollywood. It’s everything he has dreamed about or is it? With Raine and his family missing him back in Taos, Johnny must decide where his dreams really lie.

OK, right off the start, I will tell you that I want to take a black marker and eradicate that awful blurb for this remarkable book. Why? One, Johnny is in no way an “airhead” bur rather someone focused more on the quality of film he makes and less on its marketability. What a disservice the person who wrote that did to Sarah Black’s characters and this story. *Shakes head* Alright. Rant over, now that I have gotten that off my chest. The Legend of the Apache Kid has all the qualities of the best of Sarah Black’s writing. Her characters of all ages are so well crafted, so beautifully put together that I feel I have run across them in my travels out west for truly Sarah Black has one of the strongest regional voices for our western states that I can remember.

These people rise up from the pages of this book covered in the dust of their ancestors, history percolates through their bloodstream, and who they are is so strongly tied to the land they walk on that they are as much a part of the landscape as the weedy scrub sage, twisted juniper and alligator pine of Carson National Forest. From their dialog to their rides (either horseback or truck) the characters exude authenticity of location, the author’s love of the southwestern desert and the native american tribes who belong to it. Sarah Black knows this land and its people intimately and it translates her love and knowledge into her stories, characters and locales. If she has an old man talking and walking in her scene, then that character moves and sounds like an old man does. When the bored and sullen Weasel is left by himself for a few precious moments in his first introduction to Raine and Taos, he carves his initials into the shop’s small table because that what small sullen boys with a pocketknife do. To write like this, your knowledge of people cannot be superficial. You must have the ability to see beneath the surface, to get under their skin and somehow burrow into peoples thoughts and emotions to bring forth characters as real as these.

Equally remarkable is the dialog and narrative of the story. It is both weighted with emotion and yet as dry as the desert air. It is elegant in that spare western way rarely heard outside the region. You could give me anonymous samples of writings, and I could pick out Sarah Black’s signature voice in an instant. Although I dislike taking sentences out of context, this is one such example:

“He leaned forward and kissed me, light as a hummingbird on the side of my mouth. “Later, Raine.” He climbed out of the tub, grabbed his clothes, and pulled the old man’s jacket over his shoulders. The snow was falling on his hair, but he didn’t hurry, just followed the man, wet bare feet on frozen concrete. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch him walk away.”

I put that out there, loving the feeling it evokes within me and still feel I have not done this author justice because there is so much beauty to be found everywhere within this book. There is the author’s considerable knowledge of the history and her appreciation for the differing Native American tribes and their cultures. In fact, her love for and curiosity about all cultures comes shining through each and every story. A particular delight of mine is to see what new element of Americana she will bring into a book. In Marathon Cowboys, it was bathtub Marys. Really I had no idea. Check them out. Here it is the green Earthship homes built in communities out west. Yes, I had to look them up and darn it if I can’t stop thinking about them and the need for green sustainable living ever since. Sarah Black has given me a real itch to go out west and visit one to see and experience them for myself.

So why not a 5 star rating? Well, that would be the ending and really, I need to just give it up when it comes to Sarah Black. If anyone reading this is already familiar with Sarah Black’s books, then you know what I am talking about. The ending of the book just comes to a gradual stop. There is no epilogue, more of a “this is where it needs to end naturally” sort of thing. It’s not rushed, nor is it drawn out, it just is. In some of her stories it drives me crazy my need to know more is so great, in others it’s just fine because it is in tune with the story and characters. And truth be told, she is never going to change that, so I just need to let it go. And yes, it works here, it ends well and brings the story back around full circle. But damn it , I just wanted more. More of these characters, and more of their story and so will you once you read this. It enters your bloodstream as it did mine and won’t let you go. And you will be ok with that. It’s a Sarah Black story after all.

Cover: Paul Richmond was the cover artist. The colors he chose are perfect for the story as is the illustration. The background graphic is the poster for Johnny’s film.

Read my review of Marathon Cowsboys here.

Read my review of Border Roads here.

Read by Author Spotlight on Sarah Black here.

Review: The City War by Sam Starbuck

Rating: 4.25 stars

Senator Marcus Brutus is finding it perilous times to be a Senator in Rome, especially one not lined up behind Caesar. Caesar is making moves to get rid of the Republic and crown himself Emperor of Rome and that is something Marcus Brutus just cannot abide. Brutus has devoted his life as has his family to the Republic of Rome and to see it demolished under Caesar sickens him. When he retreats to his country estate with his brother-in-law and lover, Cassius, he knows that there are hard decisions to be made and soon if the Republic is to be saved.

Cassius has pulled his long time lover, Marcus, out of Rome for a purpose. There is a mutiny brewing in Rome and he is part of it. Even his sister agrees that something must be done about Caesar and soon if the Republic is to survive. Now to make Marcus Brutus understand how necessary is the course of action Cassius and others have planned, as well as the major role Brutus is to play. And he hopes their love is strong enough to survive what he intends to throw before it.

Tiresias claims to be an orphaned boy when he meets Brutus on the road to his country estate. But looks can be deceiving especially when the boy looks as delectable as Tiresias. Tiersias appears before Brutus on a gorgeous animal and states that all the horses that Brutus owns should look as good. And of course, Marcus Brutus is hooked, hiring the young man and sending him on ahead to the estate. In one move, Brutus has captured Tiresias’ heart and loyalty as Tiresias has captured his.

All three men will face the toughest decisions of their lives as Caesar’s ambitions start to cause even the sanest of Senators to think the unthinkable. Cassius will ask everything of the man he has loved since childhood. Tiresias will follow Marcus Brutus back to Rome and perhaps his death. And Marcus Brutus? He faces the loss of everything he loves. The Republic of Rome, his lover Cassius, the young boy who idolizes him and even the man who protected him when others would have put him to death – Caesar himself.

If you love history, especially the era of ancient Rome, this is the book for you. Sam Starbuck takes a well known historical fact, the assassination of Caesar and the well known “Et tu, Brutus?” and makes it all so relatable as well as the human actions that set it in motion. This is the assassination as seen from Marcus Brutus’ anguished perspective and a needed reminder that there are always more than one way to look at history. Sam Starbuck has done, as he relates in his blog, his research and it certainly shows. He makes Rome and its countryside come alive again as well as the incidents some might know only from the dusty tomes of history.

Into the tale of deceit and conspiracy, Starbuck weaves the story of the romance between Cassius and Brutus, a long established affair that is even given support by their wives. This is really not a far fetched idea as a well known quote about Caesar (from one of his many enemies) was that Caesar was a “husband to every wife and a wife to every husband”, which meant that Caesar himself entertained men as well as women sexually. Here homosexuality had not yet been demonized by Christianity and the taking of male lovers was almost a given, albeit with some strict behavioral guidelines. And this includes the mentor/young man sexual relationship which is mentioned here with regard to two couples. The first is Aristus, former tutor and publican, now old friend of Marcus Brutus the younger. They have an established sexual relationship in which Aristus mentored Brutus in the ways of homosexual love, which ended when Brutus was no longer his student (in every respect). The second relationship of a similar manner is that between Marcus Brutus and Tierisias. While certainly a deeper relationship emotionally, at least on Tiresias’ side, it is still in keeping with the older man benefactor/young student or recipient bond. I never felt that their connection was deeper than that, at least on Brustus’ part.

And really that is the heart of my quibbles with this wonderful in every other respect story. I loved The City War as an intimate look into the events leading up to the assassination of Caesar from the POV of the main conspirator. But as a m/m romance, that is a much harder sell. The long standing sexual affair between Cassius and Brutus has all the elements of two men who know each other intimately inside and out. They have been through war campaigns together and lasted through their marriages, even to the sister of one of them. So I kept waiting to feel a equally intimate connection between them, one born of romantic love and not that of brothers in arms. And I never felt it. Or bought into it. And I think that is perhaps far more realistic a take on their relationship than that of two men deeply in love with one another.

And that carries over to the relationship between Brutus and Tiresias. That is a relationship of unequals, as it has to be. Roman society as well as Roman thought would not allow it to be anything else. There is an equally surprising factor about Tiresias that I felt the author handled beautifully and with great respect. This was so well done that I want to give Sam Starbuck a little extra kudos for the character and Tiresias’ back history. Really, Tiresias is one of the most interesting characters you will meet between these pages. Really, he is a lovely surprise that gives this already fascinating story a added dimension.

At 123 pages, The City War is a quick yet well researched look into one of history’s most infamous moments. I thought Sam Starbuck did a wonderful job here and look forward to his next story. This is part of the Warriors of Rome series from Riptide Publishing. So if history, gladiators, Rome and everything in between is your thing, run out and pick this one up. Continue on to the rest of the series and settle down for a great trip back in time to the golden age of Rome.

Review of Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Knitting #4) by Amy Lane

Rating: 4.75 stars

Stanley loves his job as floor designer and store manager of Ewe’ll Love This yarn store, he loves his condo and his cats. And at 35, by following his strict regimen of diet, exercise and new hair plugs, he’s looking pretty darn amazing. So why is he feeling sort of hollow? Ever since Craw dumped him for Ben and true love, not even going to the clubs for a quickie is appealing any more. In fact, just watching Craw and Ben together highlights to Stanley just what he wants in his own life but he’s not sure how to get it or if its even possible at his age. So instead of looking for love, Stanley finally decides its time to learn how to knit to fill the void in his life. Then a funny things starts to happen, As his knitting progresses, so does his life start to knit together. He finds a family in the people around him, from Craw, Ben and Ariadne to the store owner and her daughter. And then the new delivery man walks into the store and into Stanley’s life. Johnny is unlike any man Stanley has gone out with. Huge, older with an air of the city and East Coast about him. He likes opera, the theatre and Stanley.

Johnny is just settling into his new life in Boulder and his new job. But he has plenty of secrets and a dark past that only one person in Granby knows about. Just when Johnny and Stanley realizes the depth of their feelings for each other, Johnny’s past arrives in town to threaten them both and everyone around them.

A Knitter in His Natural Habitat is the fourth book in the wonderfully endearing Knitting series and each book just keeps getting better and better. We started off the series with Craw and Ben in The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Knitting, # 1). It was cute and as adorable as the critter on the cover. And as much as I loved Craw and Ben, it was the ancillary characters that really captured my attention. In How to Raise An Honest Rabbit, it was Aiden and Jeremy, who took possession of my heart, especially Jeremy, our broken little bunny of a man. They are all back of course as well as some splendid new characters unforgettable in their own right. Especially look out for Jeremy who figures large in this new story but more than that I can’t tell you unless I want to head into spoiler territory.

With this fourth installment, Amy Lane turns her attention to Stanley, someone we meet in the very first book. Stanley was Craw’s bed buddy to use the mildest of terms. To Craw, Stanley meant someone he could count on for casual sex without complications with someone he saw only when he was delivering his yarn to the shop. Unfortunately, Stanley’s feelings were a little more engaged than Craw realized and Stanley was very hurt to find himself dumped not only for a younger man but someone Craw was deeply in love with. One of the marvels of Amy Lane’s characters is that they are so very real in every aspect. Stanley is meant to come across as a superficial, flirty little queen on first impression and he does. But just as quickly we see the loneliness and pain underneath the artifice he has constructed to fool others. Again, the author flips the perspective and we see Stanley and Craw’s “relationship” from Stanley’s POV and what a difference that makes. I love the details the author gives us that adds up to a complete portrait of a man who has reached the age of 35 without having one meaningful relationship and now realizes it. From his tan, his egg-white omelets and this rainbow painted condo, each personal detail is perfection. Layer upon layer piles up until Stanley and her other characters breath, flirt and knit their way across the pages, larger than life.

This of course, includes Johnny who we met briefly in How To Raise An Honest Rabbit. Johnny and Jeremy come from the same dark past and Johnny played a huge part in Jeremy’s survival. And much like a East Coast fish out of water, he is so different from every other character in the story and that makes him perfect for Stanley. I loved his courtly manner towards Stanley. In Stanley’s world, Johnny’s small gestures and gentlemanly behavior is just what is needed to win him over. I immediately got how and why they meshed so quickly. As I have said before, Amy Lane understands relationship dynamics and uses that to create realistic romances for her characters, an aspect of her stories I also love.

But it’s not just the romantic angle of Amy Lane’s stories I look forward to, it’s the family of characters she creates and brings together that enriches her stories and embed themselves into our hearts and memories. Here it is the group of people that gather around Ariadne in her hospital room as she awaits the birth of her first child. The doctor has put her on extended bed rest due to complications with her pregnancy and you fear for her and the unborn child’s safety even as person after person comes to knit, gossip, and tend to her emotional wellbeing. I wanted to climb into their midst and settle in with my knitting as well. There’s Stanley working the stitches on his first scarf, and Alice who bonded instantly with Ariadne, and of course, Jeremy and Aiden whose sex life speculation enliven each knitting session. It’s the author’s ability to make them all so real that when she causes them pain, we feel the impact as intensely as the characters.

I know that Amy Lane considers some of her stories light and others dark in nature but I just don’t see that. Even her “lighter” efforts have dark threads running through them, and such a thing is necessary if her characters are to be truly human. One of the aspects of the Knitting series is that each person has a “true color” that represents them. Jeremy sees Aiden’s true color, not as Sunny Sky Blue as Craw sees him but the blue of a sky streaked with the dark shades of purple and black This is the darkest, most angst filled of the series so far. In fact, at one point, I felt that I could have smacked the author silly with a hank of heavy worsted because of the pain she caused one beloved character.Deep breath. And that is also the reason that it didn’t get 5 stars. I needed the ending to be more complete, the characters more settled after the traumatic events towards the end of the story. This series isn’t over yet so I feel that is coming, which is great. Because as much as I have come to love these people, I need it to see them happy. I trust Amy Lane to deliver that too.

So don’t dawdle, run, jump and skip over to the next eBook store and pick this one and all the rest up. You will love them as much as I do.

Cover: Catt Ford’s covers for this series continue to delight and enduce smiles. How can you not love this cover?

Note: Along with great covers, I love the titles of each chapter. Here is chapter two “Sometimes a Perfectly Placid Knitter Will Startle”. Love this series for so many reasons.

Here are the books in the series in the order they were written and should be read:

The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Knitting #1) read my review here.

Super Sock Man (Knitting #2)

How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) – review here.

Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Knitting #4)

Review of Velvet by Xavier Axelson

Rating: 4 stars

Virago is the son of the Royal Tailor and his best friend growing up is Duir, the heir apparent to the throne of King Killian. When Virago’s father dies in an accident, King Killian appoints Virago to take his father’s place as the Royal Tailor, a position which will exalt him into near royalty status, making friends with others close to the crown prince. This leaves his blind brother Sylvain to spend his time alone with his animals in their father’s house. When King Killian is killed in battle, Duir goes about a personality change and becomes a cruel and capricious ruler. But Virago continues to support Duir no matter the atrocities he commits until he meets a musician and his world turns upside down in the most dangerous manner.

Seton wants nothing more than to play his lyre for the King’s coronation and he knows that the Royal Tailor has the ear of the future King. He manages a meeting with Virago in order to play for him so he can hear for himself how fine a musician he is. And while he accomplishes his goal, he also finds true love as soon as he lays eyes on Virago. But homosexuality is considered a high crime and brings the penalty of death with it. And Virago does not want to accept the fact that he is falling in love with a man. As Duir becomes more unstable, he asks Virago to make a coronation outfit unlike any ever seen and a mysterious package containing a material worth a kings ransom appears at Virago’s shop. These events help catapult Virago’s normally reserved, careful manner into flights of obsessive behavior about the material called velvet that seems to whisper strange things in his head and the musician he can’t get out of his mind.

As the coronation draws near, a malignancy is in the air, bringing with it an edge of madness. His brother warns Virago of a coming plague and tells him that Duir is violent and mad, the kingdom corrupt. So Virago must decide where his loyalties and future lie, with his friend and future King or with his brother and the prospect of forbidden love with Seton the musician.

I always look forward to a new story from Xavier Axelson. The author’s lyrical language, beautiful imagery and intriguing metaphors contained within Axelson’s tales have been hallmarks of this author’s writing. All those elements are present in Velvet and are the strength of this unusual story. Axelson always seems to include a mystical component or two within his stories, and the material velvet with its sumptuous qualities is a perfect vehicle to use to upset a tailor’s mien. Virago is a complacent, overly amiable sort of a man, one easily self deluded. He has been that way all his life, blinded to the truth of the man who will be king and the corruption that is the kingdom where he and his brother live. Virago blithely disregards both his brother’s warnings and the manner in which his “friends” have abused his blind brother all his life. So it must take someting momentus to dislodge Virago from his complacency. First, it comes in the form of Seton, a young lyre player seeking to play for the King to be. Seton makes Virago think “depraved” thoughts of homosexual passion, and while he tries to suppress his feelings towards the musician, they keep coming back every time he is in Seton’s presence. The second thing to ignite his passion is a strange, never before seen material that was delivered to his father but the package never opened until now. The wondrous material calls to him, the sensuality of the cloth and the vibrancy of the colors overwhelm his senses, including common sense. Both the velvet and Seton become obsessions in Virago’s mind and heart, a wonderful detail by Axelson to mingle the two together for a tailor deeply involved in his craft.

And I can always count in birds and bird imagery to figure large in any Axelson story. Here is a sample:

“Would I never know peace? Or would memories chase me like the gulls chase one another, endlessly hungry and insistent?”

Or this one,

“Behind my eyes, I saw white peacocks, heard their shrieks, and felt the crawl of disease.”

All powerful images that linger after the book is done. This is one of the reasons I look forward to each new story from this author. There is a magic in his touch with his narrative and the flow of his language.

I also admire the way he builds a foreboding feeling of awful events to come. There is a subplot that swirls around a whore/theatre player named Therese. The fact that I figured out early on what her intentions were in no way negates the power of anticipation that builds the closer it gets to the coronation, and yes, there are peacocks involved. In fact there are so many fine qualities to this story that I wished the main character was worthy of them. Unfortunately, Virago is not.

In fact I found Virago unworthy of just about everything that occurs. It would have made more sense if his hubris, his self deception lead to his downfall instead of a voyage to freedom. No spoilers here as this is the opening paragraph and the story is being related from the deck of a ship. I actually found him to be a despicable person. Virago let others abuse his brother, ignoring his brother’s torment at the hands of his friends. He hears and sees the cruel actions of Duir, the murders and the torture and dismisses them as the acts of a grief stricken son even as others tell him that this is Duir’s true nature. Not until he himself is the victim of a member of the court, does “everything become clear”. And even then it is not due to the victimization of others but of himself. To my complete amazement, he continues with bouts of self delusion right to the end, weeping when action is needed, wanting to warn Duir who no longer deserves it and as it imperils his brother and lover. One happenstance after another just demonstrates what a clod Virago is, instead of the hero he is needed to be. If there is a hero, it is Seton to rises to do what’s necessary when they are threatened or his brother Sylvain, who has lived as the object of scorn and bullying his entire life and yet still has made a life for himself and cares for the animals that he rescues. I would have preferred this story to be about Sylvain instead of the less appealing brother, the narrator.

And of course, there is the instantaneous love Virago feels for Seton and that Seton returns. In a story of obsession, where the feelings he has for both Seton and Velvet are comparable, it would have felt more realistic or authentic to leave it as an obsession instead of true love. I never really understood that Virago was capable of such feelings. Sexual obsession yes, love not really.

Ruth Marcus stated in her article “Hubris meets high tech“* that “classic tragedy, indeed classic literature, hinges on imperfect knowledge.” and that “ego tends to trump intelligence when sex is involved”. That describes Virago beautifully as his ignorance and his ego blinded him for years right up until the very end. Had Velvet turned out to be the cautionary tale of Virago’s downfall rather than his successful flight from the disease ridden kingdom, it would have rated 5 stars. But as a romance between two ill suited lovers? That is one illusion I cannot make myself believe.

*The Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2012

Cover: Very simple yet elegant.

Review of Splintered Lies (In The Shadow of the Wolf #3) by Diane Adams and RJ Scott

Rating: 4 stars

When cop Joe Christie’s shifter wife and unborn child died, a part of him died with them. Since their deaths, he has just been going through the motions of life, running on his own in wolf form and avoiding all former friends and partners, including Nick. That would be Nickolas Alexander, Joe’s former best friend and lover before his marriage to Mara. Once Joe married Mara, Nick stepped back from their lives and away from Joe. But Nick has continued to love Joe all through his marriage to a woman that he grew to like as well. And when Mara and their unborn child was killed, Nick stood by Joe as the shattered man tried to cope with their loss and failed.

One piece of information about the ongoing investigation into criminal acts against the shifter population shocks Nick to the core and then galvanizes Joe into action. Mara and Joe’s unborn child were the recipients of an illegal drug and unknowingly part of a criminal experiment on female wolf shifters and their babies. They were killed to get rid of evidence of the experiments not in a car accident as Joe and the others had been told. Only two others of their group know the truth and when Nick tells Joe how Mara really died, Joe explodes in rage, determined to find and kill the people responsible.

With Rob, Sam, Doug, and Jamie to help, Nick and Joe set out to find the truth behind the torture, kidnapping and deaths of the shifters. Nick tries to keep his love for Joe quiet but working next to him in the investigation is unbelievably hard. And Joe is also finding that the love and lust he thought he had buried when he married Mara is coming back in full force. Will his guilt and love for his dead wife make any future with Nick impossible? And will the conspiracy to kill wolf shifters mean their deaths as well.

Splintered Lies (In The Shadow of the Wolf #3) completes the investigation into a wolf shifter conspiracy that started with Shattered Secrets (In The Shadow of the Wolf #1) and continued in Broken Memories (In The Shadow of the Wolf #2). All the couples from the first two stories are back as well as the auxiliary characters who are now the main characters here, Joe and Nick. There is a conspiracy aimed at the destruction of wolf shifters. Shifters have been captured, kidnapped and tortured, experimented on and then killed but the investigations into each case has proven that the leadership behind the criminal acts goes higher than anyone had anticipated, reaching into the top levels of the government itself. Authors Adams and Scott more than accomplish their goals in giving the reader a horrifying mystery to solve as each new angle or case makes the conspiracy behind it even more terrifying in scope. Before we had abused wolves who can’t or won’t shift back, cases of multiple rapes and prostituted shifters, now it is revealed that pregnant wolf shifters and their fetuses have been the subject of gruesome experiments. And when those experiments have failed, the subjects have been deposed of, including Mara and their unborn child. The subject matter alone here raises the horror factor considerably and thankfully most of the experimentation has been left to the reader’s imagination. Again, this is such a huge element of the series and it is very well crafted. Splintered Lies brings the hunt for the people behind the atrocities to a conclusion that is 99 percent satisfying as not all of those who participated are counted for at the end. Are they setting us up for another book? It would seem so.

More problematic are the characters of Joe Christie and Nick Anderson. Joe is lost in his grief over the death’s of Mara and their child. And all the emotions he is going through seemed grounded in reality. You can feel how shattered he is, how his grief has immobilized him in his loss. But when it comes to the backstory of his and Nick’s earlier relationship, you want to know what was the pivotal point that made Joe choose Mara over his very real love for Nick. Over and over Joe reveals how guilty he felt over dumping Nick for Mara and that Nick still appeared in his dreams but the reader never understands why Joe felt the need to make the choice he did and that serves as a huge disconnect between the reader and this character. How can the reader mourn the loss of Joe and Nick’s relationship is it never feels completely real to begin with? Then there is Nick who in his love for Joe steps back and away from the man he loves. He says he understood Joe, but again, we never feel either his passion for Joe or the bargain he made with himself. Nick just comes across as way too passive with regard to his past with Joe. Ultimately, while the confused sexual tension between the men had a certain gravity to it, the rest of it felt flimsy in its construction. So while I liked the characters I never bought into a loving connection between them and the story suffered from it.

An intriguing angle I wish had been more throughly explored was the idea of shifter assimilation versus shifter integration into human society. Sam posed that part of Joe’s behavioral problems was that he was trying to act “human”, from his method of dealing with his grief to crowded human conditions. I loved this concept. It came about very late in the book and has so many great elements to it, so many places you could go with it that I wish it had been the focus of the story or maybe the central idea behind its own series. Again I felt like it was given short shrift but maybe that’s on purpose. I certainly hope so because an exploration of what it means to be a wolf shifter in a human society could certainly benefit from another great perspective or even two.

So if you love shifters, add this series to books that you should read. I adored two out of the three couples but the rest of the book has so many good elements that I don’t think it should be missed either.

Here are the In The Shadow of the Wolf books in the order they should be read in order to understand the long reaching plot and characters:

Shattered Secrets #1

Broken Memories #2

Splintered Lies #3

Another splendid series cover by Reese Dante

Review of Ghosts in the Wind by Marguerite Labbe

Rating: 5 stars

Dean Marshall and Andrei Cuza have been together 10 years, a anniversary they just finished celebrating. These years together have not come without their own difficulties and challenges, especially with regard to Andrei’s Romany tribe who had disavowed him. Then there is the stress of Andrei’s job which to find and rescue abused and stolen children. But they are happy and their love stronger than ever, as is the expectation they will spend the rest of their lives together.

But fate and an enraged criminal change all that. As Andrei races to save a group of abducted children, Dean stops to help a women and her children stranded by a flat tire by the side of the road. Unbeknownst to her, the woman’s estranged husband has followed her intent on retrieving his children. The encounter ends with the man killing Dean and his wife and fleeing with his children.

When Dean wakes up, he is standing by a sheet covered body, watching as paramedics rush about the scene as policemen take notes. He doesn’t understand by they won’t listen to him until a young girl appears and tells Dean that he is dead. Her name is Ileana and she is Andrei’s dead sister come to help Dean because she didn’t want him to be sad. While still not accepting the truth, Dean knows he has to get to Andrei because the two missing children need his help, so Dean sets off to figure out how to accept his new status with Illeana’s help.

Andrei is shattered when he gets the call about Dean’s murder. Everyone in his life either rejected him or left him until Dean and now he is dead. Andrei believes his life is over until Dean and his little sister appear before him. Andrei has been haunted by ghosts all of his life and one of his biggest regrets is that he feels responsible for his sister being caught in limbo unable to move on. Their sibling love was so strong that when her illness killed her, she didn’t want to leave her brother alone and she didn’t understand the ramifications of staying in limbo. For those spirits who linger controlled by the strong emotions they held in life are hunted by Jackal Wraiths who consume the souls of the spirits they hunt. A spirit only has so many chances to move on before they are stuck in perpetual limbo something the little girl never understood.

Now between his grief, rage, and his guilt, Andrei’s love for Dean and Illeana must prove to be the emotion to rule his actions. Dean is insistant that he not move on before the children are found, Illeana won’t leave Dean or Andrei and the strong emotions swirling around are sure to bring the Wraiths if the trio is not careful. Andrei must figure out not only how to catch the murderer and bring the children to safety but how to say goodbye to the only man he has ever loved before the time runs out for all of them.

This is listed as a Bittersweet Dreams title, a genre I usually stay far away from. Lucky for me and you, that would be the last place I would list this book. In fact bittersweet is a word that would not ever come to mind when I think of this amazing story of love, its all encompassing and enduring nature. Timeless love is perhaps more accurate, because it doesn’t matter whether it is the love you hold for your partner or the love of a sibling, not even death changes the power and depth of your feelings for them. Above all else, this story is about love.

Marguerite Labbe pulls you into Dean and Andrei’s relationship right from the start. Dean and Andrei are waking up and move right into a sensual scene of morning sex, that is hot and loving and feels so true for two men in an established relationship. We get descriptions of their little mannerisms and small details that heighten their commitment to each other as well let us know that sex plays an important part of their lives. I fell in love with both characters immediately without having the background knowledge that will come later in the story. I felt how deeply they loved each other which made what follows all the more shattering.

Labbe does a remarkable and heartrending job of letting us “watch” as Andrei enters a building filled with pedophiles and the children they have abducted. The police are coming but the danger and the anxiety starts ramping up as he reaches the children he comes to rescue. Our hearts are in our throats for Andrei as the danger increases by the moment and the children are so very vulnerable and hurt. Then we turn back to Dean on his way back from a successful business meeting and sees a woman in distress at the side of the road. Back and forth we swing between the men and their disparate scenes, and our stomach starts to get queasy and our eyes to tear because we know whats coming. And come it does. In the splashes of blood, and tears and cries of pain and loss so unbearable that you shatter along with Andrei.

But there is always the presence of Dean and young Illeana to shore us up. So real, so genuine are all the characters including the children, that their situation seems as real as Andrei’s. They pull us back from grief and involve us in the plight of the two missing children as well as their own as times starts to run out before Dean too is stuck in limbo. The author gives us so many outstanding elements, each as complex and expertly executed as the next, in this story. We have the otherworldly strand that involves Dean, Illeana, and the Jackal Wraiths which is very scary as well as vividly described, truly the stuff of nightmares. Along side of this, Margueritie Labbe hauls us into the hunt for the murderer and the missing children. My god, this was so well done. As the police give up on finding the children, Andrei, and Dean know better. And the race is on with just themselves and a friendly detective to continue the hunt which turns into a real knuckle biter itself. Oh and did I tell you a hurricane is coming?

And throughout all this both Dean and Andrei must find a way to say goodbye. Yes, I sobbed buckets of tears with this story,from beginning to the end. But by then the tears of pain and loss had turned into tears of joy and happiness. Yes, you read that right. Joy and happiness about a story of murder and lovers separated by a criminal act. The ending is perfection and one you will treasure, turning back to it over and over again.

Really, this is an exceptional book. I raced through to the end, gobbling up each and every word, heart pounding, pulse racing, and yes, throw in some head throbbing to go along with the red eyes and runny nose. And then I did it all again because I was afraid I had missed something the first time. Yes, you can count on there being another reading in the future. Because this book will haunt you, mesmerize you and leave you thinking once you have finished. Don’t take my word for it. Go buy this book, do it now. Get some tissures and prepare to be enveloped in a love that knows no boundaries, even death.

Cover. This cover by Reese Dante is one of the top ten for 2012. Lush, haunting, just perfect in every way.

Review: One True Thing by Piper Vaughn and MJ O’Shea

Rating: 4 stars

Dusty Davis has moved to California with his best friends Ru and Erik and their daughter Alice. West Hollywood so far is everything Dusty hoped it would be. He can walk down the street and not draw stares for his clothes or nail polish and their new house is adorable, a great change in every way from Delaware. There is only one thing missing…..a boyfriend. When he watches Ru and Erik cuddle and interact, it only highlights how lonely he really is. But a trip on the sidewalk has Dusty falling into the arms of a gorgeous man, who picks him up, smiles and disappears into the crowd. So Dusty starts to look for him everywhere and when he finds him, Dusty is confused because the man, Archer Kyriakides doesn’t remember him. But that doesn’t stop Dusty from going out with him. But its not the same as Dusty hoped as the man is cold, and completely shallow. Then Dusty meets Asher Kyriakides who is Archer’s twin brother and the mystery is solved. It is Asher who picked Dusty up off the side walk and Asher who has occupied Dusty’s thoughts and dreams since the incident. After Dusty realizes his mistake, he and Asher start to date and it is everything he had hoped for in the beginning. Except that Archer seems intent on causing problems for the new couple every way he can.

Asher Kyriakides has not been able to get the adorable blonde man out of his mind since they meet on the sidewalk. Then he walks into the apartment he shares with his twin brother Archer and is devastated to find Archer kissing that same cute blonde. Crushed, Asher finds his life stagnating on every level. He is a photographer who is filming porn actors because he needs the money instead of working as a fashion photographer. His brother is running up their bills, partying all night, and in general making Asher’s life miserable when he tries to make his brother act responsibly. It only starts to look up when he starts to date Dusty and even make plans for their future. But Archer means trouble and tries to tear the two men apart. When Archer goes too far, Asher must finally decide between his future with Dusty or his obligation to his brother.

We first met Dustin Davis in One Small Thing which gave us the story of Ru and Erik’s relationship. Dusty had a large role to play in that story and he captured our hearts with his endearing personality and vulnerability. I thought even then that he deserved his own story and was thrilled to see a sequel that followed our small family out to West Hollywood for a new start for all of them. The authors certainly picked the right place to plop down our wonderful quartet of characters and it was easy to envision Dusty flip flopping his way down the Boulevard on his way to a meeting with Asher and a future. Vaughn and O’Shea have given us a character to cherish in Dusty so it is important that his soul mate measure up to the reader’s idea of the right person for him. And the person they chose has readers including myself blowing hot and cold, mostly because of his brother. The authors present us with a problematic package when they created Asher and Archer, the twin Kyriakides brothers who represent a sort of black and white or yin and yang of siblings.

Asher, the good twin, seems to be a lovely match for Dusty. Except that when it comes to his evil twin, Archer, he has all the resolve of a wet noodle. He lets his brother ride roughshod over him time after time, trampling his feelings and even his relationship with Dusty into the ground with no recompense at all from Archer. In fact, no matter how awful Archer behaves, Asher lets him get away with it to the reader’s utter astonishment. I can understand a twin brother’s bond being responsible for absorbing some of the impact of Archer’s actions but there is no answering bond from Archer, it is completely one sided. So on one front, Asher loves Dusty and they appear perfect for each other, than the other passive doormat side of Asher comes out and threatens everything they have built up to date. I won’t go into details here but trust me when I say both Archer’s actions and Asher’s response are so unbelievable that it almost derailed the entire story for me. The only thing that pulled the plot back onto the tracks was Dusty’s reaction and the manner in which he forced Asher to handle the situation. Yes, Dusty is the saving grace, not only in this incidence, but for the entire book.

Archer remained pretty much a one dimensional evil villain of the piece. I kept waiting for some explanation for his hatred of his brother, some bit of back story that would explain his illicit drug use, casual sex, and complete disregard for his brother’s feelings but it never came. In fact, Archer was the major disruption for this story. Had he been removed, the one element of Asher’s character that was not only unbelievable but distasteful as well would have been removed too.

Dusty remains one of my favorite characters. He is irrepressibly positive in his outlook, his buoyant good nature, his huge heart and personality make me smile just thinking about him. The authors have painted such a vivid portrait of Dusty that he leaps laughing and giggling right off the page and into our hearts. Dusty is so gentle and kind (and talented) that you not only want him to be your hairstylist but your friend as well. Dusty is both the heart of this story and it’s saving grace. It doesn’t matter whether he is feeding Alice or having a heart to heart with Michelle, who Dusty is and what he stands for is never in doubt. Give us more Dusty and I am a happy camper. He is a perfect creation and the real reason to buy this book.

Without Archer’s involvement, this is a 4.5 to 5 point story. Take him away, and it has every thing to recommend it. It has not only Dusty, but Ru and Erik and Alice too. It finds Dusty happy in his new job, making new friends (love Michelle), and finally having someone to love and who loves him back for the marvelous person he is. Another new character deserving of our attention and affection is troubled porn actor Josh. I could have used more of him, and so much less of Archer. I liked the ending, although for some reason it seemed for of a HFN than HEA. And again, that speaks more to the characterization deficits of Asher and not Dusty. Because while Dusty is still moving forward with new friendships, new apartment, an ever expanding future, Asher’s career remains that of a porn photographer, which would be fine if he enjoyed and liked it, but it’s not. It’s one he is ashamed of and remains in. When he goes forward, it seems that its because Dusty has pulled him there, not a formula for a healthy relationship. So perhaps Asher too needs some time to grow into the man Dusty deserves. I would love to see a third book in this series, one that reunites Dusty, Asher, Ru, Erik, Alice, Josh and Lane in the not too near future with a real HEA for them all. And please if we must see or hear of Archer again, let it be at his graveside. A perfect solution if ever there was one.

Cover: OK, how adorable is this cover. The model, Austin Anomic (aka Austin Mitchell) is the one who visually inspired the character of Dusty. Read Piper Vaughn’s blog on Austin and his picture with the cover of this book. Austin and the cover of One True Thing are both adorably perfect.

Books in the order they were written and should be read:

One Small Thing – read my review here.

One True Thing

Review of How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) by Amy Lane

Rating: 5 stars

When ex con Jeremy Stillson ends up begging for money on a street corner in Boulder, Colorado, he has no idea that his life is about to change when he spies the looming figure of Rance Crawford heading towards him from the nearby yarn shop. Instead of money, Rance offers him a job that comes with a small room to call his own in the alpaca barn and fiber mill that Rance owns. Here is the chance Jeremy has wanted, a way to be honest and to go straight, leaving the illegal lifestyle behind that he learned from his conman of a father, a father who died when a con went bad.

But living a honest life doesn’t necessarily mean Jeremy’s past is gone with the old lifestyle. Rance turns Jeremy’s training over to a young gorgeous man named Aiden, a master at colors and yarn dyes even as a teenager. Aiden is everything Jeremy has always wanted to be and Jeremy idolizes the teenager from the first moment they meet. Year after year, Jeremy slowly adjusts. He learns to love his new life, he learns how to knit and gains a family with the people he works with at the alpaca ranch. And most importantly he falls in love with Aiden as Aiden ages and matures into a wonderful young man.

Jeremy’s feelings of insecurity and low self esteem have never gone away and when Aiden starts to return his affection, Jeremy is petrified. Jeremy’s first instincts are to run, rabbit away but Aiden has Jeremy figured out. When Aiden first met Jeremy, one of the things he taught him was how to hold a angora rabbit, to make it feel secure so it can be petted and brushed. So when Jeremy shows signs of rabbiting away, Aiden knows exactly what he has to do to keep the one man he has wanted from running away and make him trust in Aiden.

What a wonderful story. I will be the first to admit that Amy Lane is a “go to” author for me. An Amy Lane book to me means an outpouring of human emotions from characters so real I expect to meet them on the streets. An Amy Lane story means that the situations and events her characters find themselves entangled in comes across so authentic, so genuine that not only my empathy but my heart is engaged from the very beginning. If they weep, then I find myself sobbing along as well. And when they find joy, then my heart feels replete with happiness.

How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) brings back the characters we learned to love in The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Knitting, # 1) . Present and accounted for are Rance Crawford, owner of the alpaca farm and yarn mill, Ben McCutcheon (Rance’s lover and neighbor), Aiden fabric designer extraordinaire and Ariadne shop manager and spinner, and of course, Jeremy. The first story in the Knitting series gave us Rance and Ben’s courtship from their POV, with the other characters circling around like satellites, albeit family member satellites. And as much as we learned to love Ariadne and Rory her husband, it was Jeremy and Aiden we kept returning to and we wanted to know their stories too. And thankfully, Amy Lane gives us that and more in How To Raise An Honest Rabbit.

It was hysterical to see Rance and Ben’s meeting and courtship from the other side, so to speak as Rance’s meeting with Jeremy predates Ben moving in next door. But the heart of this story is Jeremy, his pain born out of his past and his slow emergence into the man he wanted to be but never thought possible. Jeremy’s history is heartbreaking in that Amy Lane way, which means the angst of his past is brought vividly home to the reader but in small subtle ways that build over the length of the story into a horrific portrait of a young boy lost to society at the earliest of ages. We learn in tiny increments about the jars of peanut butter Jeremy has stashed so he always has something to eat, and the true reason he talks so much yet values silence and the awful fact that Jeremy doesn’t even know his real name. The story is told from Jeremy’s POV which is so important as we hear his thoughts about his life, his panic attacks, his growing affection for Aiden and everyone else around him.

And as we learn about Jeremy, we are also creating a strong picture of Aiden as well. From Aiden’s interaction with Rance (overheard conversations) and his talks with Jeremy, we watch a young fiber genius mature into a man who realizes that patience and perhaps ear plugs are the way to capture the skittish man he has fallen in love with. It was Aiden’s careful, loving interactions with Jeremy that made me fall in love with Aiden completely. And with Ariadne as well. Really, there is just an endless stream of gems that I could be quoting from the story but that would take away some of the magic to be found from discovering them on your own as I did.

And finally as a knitter myself, I loved every aspect of knitting that appears here, from the carding machine’s noise to the method Ariadne used to teach Jeremy to knit (and his own rhyme he made up). There are the dye vats, color cards, and descriptions of how the same colored strands can be spun in different manner, ending up as completely different yarns. And I don’t think you have to be a knitter to find all this information fascinating, it just is. But did I love the patterns for the fingerless mittens at the end? Why yes I did and will try my hand at making a set this winter.

There is another Knitting series book on the horizon, Knitter in his Natural Habitat (Knitting #4), Johnny and Stanley’s story. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I will just shuffle off and reload Winter Courtship Rituals back onto my Kindle and start from the beginning once more as I wait.

Here is the order the books were written and should be read:

The Winter Courtship of Fur Bearing Critters (Knitting #1)

Super Sock Man (Knitting #2)

How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3)

Knitter in his Natural Habitat (Knitting #4) coming in November 2012

Covers by Catt Ford. Are these not the most adorable covers ever? I heart them all.

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