Tag: series

Review of Grade-A-Sex Deal (College Fun and Gays, #2) by Erica Pike

Grade-A-Sex Deal (College Fun and Gays #2)

Rating: 5 stars

Daniel Corrigan hates his life.  He used to have it all.  Affluent lifestyle complete with great paying job, loving wife, two children, great house and even a dog.  Now all gone because he simply couldn’t live a lie any longer.  With two little words “I’m gay”,  he’s lost everything and everyone in his life, with the exception of his brother, a college principal.

Now depressed, penniless and living in a college dorm room, Daniel makes a living teaching macroeconomics at his brother’s university. The only bright spot in his life is Troy Anderson, a sexy student in his class.  The deal they made, exchanging sexual favors for a favorable A in his class, is about to come to an end along with the semester and Daniel is not sure he can handle the loss. What will happen when the Grade-A-Sex deal comes to an end?

I love surprises and this short story is all that and a cupcake with dark chocolate sprinkles on top. From the title, I would never guess at the angst, bitterness, and despair that is emerges from the tale of Daniel’s life after he comes out.   I am always amazed at the courage it takes for someone to come out of the closet, whether they are a teenager or a middle aged adult.  While you hope with all your heart for acceptance and love, the stories you most often hear of those of loss, contempt, and pain.  Daniel is no different.  His expectations of his family’s reaction might have been naive but the actuality of their disgust and rejection was crushing. Erica Pike got this so right, I often had tears in my eyes as I read the story (and this is a short story mind you).

Daniel’s room is littered with the debris of his life, left over food containers, clothes he can’t be bothered washing, all symptoms of a deeply depressed man just going through the motions.  Every detail Erica Pike paints for us is meticulous.  There is not a false word or emotion here.  Troy Anderson has surprises of his own in store for us.  Needless to say, my lips are sealed here.  Just know that Troy is no cardboard figure, he too is fully alive and breathing.  It just takes a little longer to get to know him.  The sex is hot, fast, and overlaid with desperation.

When I first read about the sex for grades issue, it bothered me, but as I got further into the story, it became easier to accept. Daniel had only done it a few times and it fit right in with his poor self esteem and “hitting rock bottom.” If one ignores the depression cycle he is on, his behavior is hard to understand. As it is, he is not a likeable human being at the beginning of the story. However, the deal entered into between the teacher and the student here is a way for the older man to have any type of a relationship with this man he has come to love. It is more a ploy of desperation than something he does with others, and he despises himself for it.

I have not read the first College Fun and Gays story. I really don’t feel its necessary in order to read and appreciate the beauty of this little gem.  But you know that I won’t be able to rest until I go back to the beginning of the series.  I will let you all know what I find.  In the meantime, you will just love this!

Cover:  I don’t know if it is just me but any cover color in the red range is hard on my eyes and this is no exception.  There are some wonderful graphics in the background that really clue you into the story but they are lost with the highlighted image of the college.  I also  prefer a stylistically plainer font. IMO, it’s just easier to read. Grade A story, Grade C cover.

Book available from No Boundaries Press, Amazon, and ARe

Review of Fall Into The Sun by Val Kovalin

Reviewed for JoyfullyJay blog on 4/10/12:

Rating: 4.75

Bobby Gallegos and Alejo Sandoval met when they were 6.  It was 1972 at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church.  Alejo was being picked on by three boys who had stolen his marble.  Bobby came to his rescue and into his life.  From that time forward, they were inseparable even though their families were so different.  Bobby came from a rough family of four boys whose dad was in prison. His older brothers were petty criminals following in their fathers footsteps who only saw the youngest boy as a punching bag.  Alejandro’s family were strict, ran a family restaurant and was devoutly Catholic.  But none of that mattered as the years passed and their connection deepened into love.

The summer of 1982 changed all that with a series of devastating events that would separate the boys for 22 years.  Over time, Alejo got married, and had a family and ran the family restaurant, his bisexual tendencies buried deeply in the closet.  Bobby  moved away, went to law school in Houston, Texas where he was now a gay successful criminal lawyer. Only once did they try to reconnect but bad timing and distance interfered.

Now they are both 40, their lives at an impasse. Alejo is divorced and Bobby has returned to Albuquerque to persuade Alejo to make a change so they can finally get their happily ever after they have been denied for so long.  Bobby has seven days.  Will it be enough time?

Let me say right from the start that I love stories about first loves getting their second chance at happiness so this pushed all the right buttons.  Val Kovalin also did such a wonderful job with her characters that identifying with them was easy.  There is never any doubt as to who these men are and how their pasts molded them.  Both men have real depth and layers to their characters, including their flaws which help drive them apart.

Bobby was the easiest of the two to empathize with.  His obstacles to overcome are so clearly black and white, starting with an abusive family that he managed to escape from while staying true to who he is.  Alejo had it much tougher in a way.  His parents love, expectations and strict adherence to the Catholic church buried Alejandro’s own career choices and sexuality under a blanket of guilt and parental love.  Now at 40 and getting ready to attend his ex-wife’s marriage, his children, especially his wayward son, keep him from reaching out to Bobby and a new future.  The reader’s frustrations with Alejo’s indecision and inability to parent his son mount with Bobby’s .  Yet, so skillfully is Alejo drawn that his rational is clear and in keeping with his history.  Both the reader and his lover understand his actions even if you don’t like them.  It’s your flaws that make you vulnerable and oh so human. So you are never ready to give up on Alejo and neither is Bobby.  I thought their entire relationship realistic as it grows and adjusts from ages 6 to 40.

I really enjoyed this book and notice that it is called Fall Into The Sun Bobby and Alejo #1.  I am hoping that means we will be seeing more of these two and their hard won future together.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Cover:  I loved this cover.  The models were perfect for Bobby and Alejo.  Just wonderful from the expressions in their eyes and that they seem more in keeping with the age of the characters.  Great job.

Available at Amazon and ARe.

Review of Sunset (Pact Arcanum #1) by Arshad Ahsanuddin

Written for JoyfullyJay

Review of Sunset (Pact Arcanum #1) by Arshad Ahsanuddin

Rating: 4 stars

The year is 2040.   A terrorist appears during an Oscar-like awards show and threatens to blow up the city with an atomic bomb unless her demands are met.  Rising from the audience to deal with the threat is Nicholas Jameson, known rock star.

As the clock ticks down the minutes to detonation, it is not only millions of lives at stake. Nick is also hiding a secret of monumental importance. Nick is Daywalker and one of the most powerful members of a secret supernatural society made up of Nightwalkers (vampires) , Daywalkers (vampires with souls), and Sentinels (warriors of the Light, vampire killers).  For tens of thousands of years,  unbeknownst to Humans among them, enemies Nightwalkers and Sentinels have lived and warred.  In secret, they created their own cultures and societies,  even as they strove for each others total destruction.  Then came the Redeemer and he offered the two sides a way to coexist without the constant warfare. Those Nightwalkers that accepted the Armistice became Daywalkers who worked with the Sentinels to keep the peace.  Now all is threatened when circumstances demand that Nick reveal his  true nature to the terrorist and the Human world watching the award telecast live.

Foes to the Armistice come from all sides as the Human governments react to the new reality of beings more powerful and advanced living among them and Nightwalkers seek to rule once more.  The Society needs a leader and looks to Nick to help save the Armistice and their existence.  But Nick is haunted by his past and his weakness is a threat to all near him.  Can Nick surmount his traumatic past and become a hero the world needs?

Sunset (Pact Arcanum #1) is the first in a series of seven books (the seventh book is called Book #4) written by Arshad Ahsanuddin.  The Pact Arcanum series is world building on an epic and labyrinthine scale.    There are so many convoluted and confounding layers to this story that the maze of King Midos begins to look like a game of Chutes and Ladders next to it.  For me it never bodes well that the Introduction is pages of the Hierarchies of the Nightwalker, Daywalker and Sentinel societies, complete with Titles you won’t remember (i.e, ” Imperator: Adjudicator between vampire Houses, called the Huntmaster Magister: Leader of a vampire House, called the Prince (gender neutral)” etc.), places and names of places too numerous to remember, and a cast roster you won’t need to remember as each character is well introduced within the confines of the novel.  Whereas maps help place events, information lists of this nature impede the forward motion of the story and is unnecessary if the exposition is clear.

Sunset starts out with great promise.  As Chapter one and the story opens, the award ceremony is underway and the terrorists are taking their places inside the auditorium.  The tension increases as the terrorists make themselves known, the bomb is unveiled, and Nick is forced to reveal himself to the world.  I love fantasy stories and when the author has created a universe within a series of books, I am filled with anticipation of days ahead of joyous reading.

At Chapter 5, I start to get that “duhoh” feeling as time starts to jump ahead.  Chapter 6 is “five hours after public exposure”.  Chapter 7? That is “four hours earlier, two hours after public exposure”.  Chapter 10 and its now January 2040, one day after public exposure.  Each chapter is a different time frame, most of the time.  Sigh.  Chapter 11 and its February 2040, two weeks after public exposure, Chapter 12 takes place three hours earlier than Chapter 11.  And on it goes as straight forward storytelling is abandoned in place of a high wire trapeze act, as time swings back and forth between each chapter.  Also most chapters describes where as well as when the chapter takes place, as in “Chapter  39, Armistice Embassy, Washington, D.C.; Five minutes earlier.” Then “Chapter 40 Armistice Security Headquarters, Anchorpoint City, Grand Mesa, Colorado; Thirty minutes later.”  Chapter 41 has no such description. It is just a continuation of the previous chapter.  For the sake of continuity, Chapter 41 should still be 40.  But this happens throughout the book.

Flat characterization is also a problem here.  Nicholas Jameson is a vampire that everyone is in love with to the point of aggression but I could never understand why the   character instills such passion in others.  I certainly didn’t feel it. In fact, none of the main characters here ever felt real.  At the very end of the book, I was sniffling over the death of a minor character, a “satellite” person brought in to achieve a goal the author had in mind.  This person was more fully actualized than any of the main characters introduced previously and the only one I actually cared about.  That is a sad fact.

Jeffrey Hirschberg in his “11 Laws of Great Storytelling” states “attentiveness (or lack thereof)  of the audience is directly related to its ability to make a successful emotional connection.” And he’s right.  I can tell that Arshad Ahsanuddin not only loves the world he has created but is a scientist as well due to all the minutiae created and recorded here.   In addition to the layers of Titles, titles given to powers, layers of titles within each court, there are also drawings of glyphs and symbols and drawings of weapons.  While such minutiae can enrich the storytelling experience, it can also serve to weigh down the momentum of the story under too many details until that “emotional connection” is lost.

Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing*, Rule 10 is “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”

While this sounds humorous, it is also true. In sections of Sunset, the layers of details are so dense and numerous, the story grinds to a halt.  Desperate to find the story’s energy again, heck desperate to find just the story, I started to flip through the paragraphs, pages even, until the novel reached out to me once more.

Elmore Leonard’s Rules 8 and 9 also apply here.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

But both are self explanatory and would make this review much too long.

As with Burn, another fantasy epic in the making, Sunset (Pact Arcanum#1) becomes powerful in the very last portion of the book, pulling the reader to the edge of the seat in suspense and anticipation of events unfolding.  But Sunset takes that emotional punch it just achieved and throws it away at the contrived ending.  I actually reread the last pages in disbelief, but this has to be where the author planned to take us all along.  It just does not seem to match the rest of the  book.

So I give Sunset 4 stars mostly because of the universe building and its details.  That is all very well done.  The story is a terrific one that gets lost in fragmented storytelling ,detail overload, and poor characterization.  The rest of the books are already written (including Books #2.5 and #3.5, along with 2, 3, 4 and Interludes).  But I think I will stop here.  There are other universes and fantasies on the horizon calling to me.  I think I will journey there instead.

Cover:  The Cover is glorious and so suitable for the story.  The illustrator is Craig Payst.

Review of Nobody’s Hero by Katey Hawthorne

Rating: 4.8 stars

Jamie Monday is living two lives. In one life, he is normal and outwardly gay, he’s the life of the gay party scene, the office extrovert, everyone’s favorite homo.  Then there’s his other life, the hidden one as a member of the Awakened, people who can control the elements. As an Awakened, Jamie is deep in the closet. He hides his sexual identity from his mother and the Awakened community who expect him to marry and procreate.  Additionally, Jamie hides the fact that he is an Awakened from those in his “normal” life. Jamie has been good at keeping his identities compartmentalized but the increasing pressure by his mother to marry and the hot new IT guy at work has upset his equilibrium.

Kellan Shea is brainy, adorkable, and a Sleeper, the name given to Humans with no supernatural abilities.  From the beginning Jamie feels drawn to him.  It doesn’t matter that Kellan is socially awkward, defensive, and downright prickly,  Jamie realizes that Kelly is who he wants.  Kellan has a pure core within a sizzling exterior and Jamie finds himself falling in love.  But Kellan hates lies and Jamie’s life is one of deceit.  Can Jamie find the courage to be himself  or will he lose the only man he has ever loved?

This is the third book in the Superpowered Love series and just a great read.  I have come to expect wonderful and quirky characters from Katey Hawthorne and Nobody’s Fool is chock full of them, starting with Jamie Monday.  Jamie seems superficial to begin with but a shallow gorgeous surface hides a deeply conflicted man.  Jamie wants to please his mother, his only family.  The Awakened community they live in is close-knit, rigid, and almost incestuous in their intermarrying.  They all have high expectations of their progeny. Jamie acknowledges all of that while still trying to have a “normal” life.  It’s not so much that he wants to lie as he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone.  Each time my frustrations build with his character’s seeming inability to deal truthfully with those around him, Jamie’s inner dialog makes his position seem all too human and understandable.

And then there’s Kellan Shea.  I adored Kelly right from his mumbled fingernail chewing introduction to Jamie and friends at the office.  He is such a contradiction.  Kellan is Catholic and not just in name only.  He believes in his religion and is unafraid to say so.  He has a potty mouth, hot temper, and a vulnerable soul.  He is so very interesting in his outlook on life and sex that I feel as though I haven’t come across a someone like him before. These two characters ease into their relationship with all the grace of two porcupines waltzing.

The beauty of this story is that we all can relate to Jamie and the way he has complicated his life.  Who hasn’t wanted to please their parents to the point of suppressing their own wants and needs?  Who hasn’t told a lie or smudged the truth so someone isn’t hurt?  Life is full of complications, ones we create and those created for us.  For Jamie, it is not only his sexuality but his supernatural powers that he is hiding.   There is not one part of his life that is clear and open.  And not even Jamie realizes the full impact that has had on him until the end.  All the conflict, all the hurt that emerges are realistically and vividly portrayed.  I ached for those characters as I watched them fumble and sometimes fail as they reached for each other.

And did I mention the hot sex?  I should have because this story is full of it.  It’s that wonderful falling in love/lust/love sex where you  can’t get enough of each other.  And it’s also diversion sex, makeup sex and everything in between.  It’s sloppy, and all encompassing.  There’s also great music, wonderful locations and a great Irish family I couldn’t get enough of. I was so sorry to get to the end of Nobody’s Fool and it’s endearing cast of characters.  I hope you will feel the same.

Cover:  Cover art by P.L. Nunn.  A great cover that beautifully captures the characters.

Available from Loose Id.

Review of The Only Easy Day by R.J.Scott

Rating: 4.75 stars

The Only Easy Day

Navy Seal Joseph Kinnon has just returned from a covert mission to find his commander waiting with tragic news, his stepsister has been murdered.  The facts surrounding the case are slim and the media are painting an inaccurate and damaging portrait of the dead girl.  Grief stricken and determined to redeem his stepsister’s reputation, Kinnon takes leave and heads to Albany, New York for answers and retribution.

Dale MacIntyre, ex-Navy Seal, now works for Sanctuary, a private organization that investigates crimes and protects the victims of those crimes. Where the CIA, FBI, and all the other government “alphabets” have failed, the Sanctuary and its agents step in.  MacIntyre’s current case involves protecting Morgan Drake, witness to the murder of Elisabeth Costain. He is also the lover of Nik, fellow Sanctuary operative.  When word gets to MacIntyre that a Navy Seal hellbent on revenge is headed their way, he is sure that their case has just exploded, their mission in danger of exposure.

The two men clash immediately, each convinced theirs is the only way to bring down the criminals and solve the reason behind the murder. MacIntyre and Kinnon are forced to work closely together as connections to the Mafia, local Police and even Congress are revealed the deeper they investigate. Kinnon, MacIntyre and his Sanctuary team must race to mount a rescue when an inside informant is uncovered and tortured.   Can they put aside their differences and growing attraction long enough to battle the odds against them and reach the truth? Or will the criminals win?

What a great story! It has everything you could want in a action/adventure novel.  Danger, murder, sexual heat, and intrigue as well as a monumental clash of personalities.  Joseph Kinnon is absolutely realistic as a Navy Seal.  He is patriotic, intense, beyond capable, and lonely.  Dale MacIntyre is another wonderful creation.  Haunted by a tragic event in his past, MacIntyre too is lonely, mistrustful, and envious of his colleagues who have found lasting relationships.  When these two alphas meet, the sexual tension and testosterone leap from the pages.  I found it totally believable that the men couldn’t decide whether to pound or kiss other other as they slammed into the wall the next time they met.  If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought the author had a Navy background so well researched are the descriptions of the Seals and their training without it being an “information dump”.  From start to finish, R. J. Scott does a excellent job of keeping the reader engaged as the two men juggle their professional and emotional needs.  I loved  Kinnon and MacIntyre and clearly a sequel to this book is on its way.  The ending is realistic and, as in true life, not all involved have been brought to justice.

The Only Easy Day is a continuation of the Sanctuary series started with Guarding Morgan.  I have not read that one yet( note: I have since read the first in the series, please see my review), but you don’t need to in order to love this book. It is Joseph Kinnon and Dale MacIntyre that have me hooked.  And it is my hopes for their future  that will keep me coming back for more.  I loved this and hope you will too.

Cover:  My wish here is that the fonts  were easier to read, perhaps a different color, as the author’s name and A Sanctuary Story fade into the picture. Grade B for the cover but I did love those guys.