The Geography of Murder by P.A. Brown

TITLE: The Geography of Murder
AUTHOR: P.A. Brown
PUBLISHER: MLR Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 79k)
GENRE: Gay BDSM mystery erotic romance
COST: $5.99

Waking up next to a dead man is frightening enough. Getting hauled away in handcuffs for his murder is even worse. Jason Zachary protests his innocence over and over to Detective Alex Spider, and when DNA evidence places someone else at the scene, he’s finally released. But Alex isn’t done with Jason, not by a long shot. Not now that he knows the young man is a very willing sub…

When a book has a plethora of technical errors, it has to excel in other areas in order for me to fall for it. Whether that’s the romance, the setting, or the characters, something has to compensate for the fact that mistakes muddy the reading experience. In this novel’s case, there just isn’t any one aspect that shines brightly enough to distract me from the multitude of grammatical errors that tarnish it.

The story is told in alternating 1^st person perspectives, jumping between Jason and Spider from chapter to chapter. On the one hand, it allows the reader to follow the procedural aspect of the plot, with much better ease than the romance angle is served. On the other, it’s not that skillfully done, as many of the technical mistakes in this come from inaccurate verb tenses. It doesn’t happen as much when they’re doing something as it does when they’re thinking something. But it gets worse as the story goes on, pulling me out of it more and more often. There are also consistency errors, like when Alex goes to a taxidermist to try and learn more about a clue, a stuffed raven, and wavers on mentioning exactly what the bird is because that’s one of the pieces of evidence they’re holding back from the media. Yet, when the paper runs a full article about Alex and his less than stellar progress on the case, it starts out with, “What do ravens and bloody trophies and horrific murders done in the name of vigilante justice have in common?” Things like this don’t help the reading experience.

Because I wanted to love this. One of the things that drew me in from the start was the notion that these were not your typical m/m heroes. Jason is a user, with serious esteem issues, while Alex is a control freak who lacks the ability/desire to get attached to anyone. Frankly, neither guy is very appealing on an aesthetic level, yet somehow, there’s an appeal in seeing them get together. I had better luck getting attached to Jason, however, when Alex’s control issues and BDSM tendencies slip into what felt like abuse to me. It felt like abuse to him, too, because it prompts him to do some serious soul searching, as well as abuse to Jason. But abusive men are one of my hot buttons. They automatically raise all my hackles, and I very rarely recover from it. I recognize there is a fine line to be walked with BDSM stories, but when both leads recognize behavior as abusive, it’s clear which side of the line that action falls on. Because of this, any interest I had in seeing Alex happy disappeared, and without wanting to see one of the heroes get a happy ending, it’s next to impossible to care about the romance.

As I said earlier, the mystery aspect of the story fares much better than the romance, and thankfully, takes a lot of page time. It was worth finishing for that, but for any sense of emotional satisfaction for the men, it fell far short.

Readability	6/10 – A lot of the technical niggles kept pulling me out of the story, though it certainly worked as a procedural
Hero #1	7/10 – Damaged and believable
Hero #2	6/10 – The borderline abuse merited a better resolution than he got
Entertainment value	6/10 – I liked the mystery part of this so much more than the romance
World building	8/10 – The cop world was crisp and believable
TOTAL:	33/50

Master of the Mountain by Cherise Sinclair

TITLE: Master of the Mountain
AUTHOR: Cherise Sinclair
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 60k)
GENRE: BDSM contemporary erotic romance
COST: $6.99

When Rebecca finds out her boyfriend belongs to a swingers club, she agrees to go with him on a long Memorial Day weekend in hopes that it will spruce up their love life. What she discovers is more than the fact she hates watching him have sex with other people. She learns, from the powerful and overwhelming co-owner of the mountain resort Logan, that she isn’t as frigid as she’d feared she was. She just needed a strong Dom to recognize the submissive hiding inside her…

I have to confess that I started chapter one of this book with a little annoyance. It had nothing to do with the story I’d chosen to read, or anything external. Rather, it had to do with the author’s note, a letter to the readers (200 words long, so not something overly brief), reminding them to be safe, sane, and consensual in regards to real-life BDSM practices, as well as containing this, Know that I'm hoping you find that special, loving person who will understand your needs and hold you close. Let me know how you're doing. I worry, you know., with the author’s email address after her signature. It bugged me because a) I’m not interested in the whole feel-good, huggy nature of an author I don’t know personally “worrying” about me and encouraging contact beyond feedback regarding his/her work, and b) I’m well aware I’m reading a work of fiction and feel rather talked down to when reminded of how to practice certain things in real life. An author is not my parent, nor my partner, nor anyone else in my life I need dictating my actions, and so I started the story a tad resentful and annoyed.

However. The author’s words lingered in the back of my head, not necessarily those but the reminder at the start that this was compressed into a short time period like most romantic fiction. And every time I started thinking about how quickly Rebecca’s relationship with Logan was escalating – too fast for me to be entirely comfortable with, considering its BDSM nature – I heard that reminder, and the niggle of doubt went away. When I was done, I had completely forgotten my original annoyance until I went back to the beginning to start my notes for the purpose of this review, and I realized that it was because of that author’s note that I was able to enjoy the story as much as I did. Because it accomplished what I’m sure the author intended, and focused me on the escapism of the moment rather than the so-called reality of it. For that, I apologize for leaping to judgment too early.

So onto the story.

Rebecca is a professional woman who isn’t a stick figure, and though her boyfriend satisfies nearly all the checkmarks in her perfect partner column, their sex life is pretty sad. She fakes half her orgasms and has never been blown away, so when he tells her that he’s a part of this swingers club, she decides to go with him in hopes that it will spice things up. I’m not entirely sure why she’s so tolerant of only finding out about this now after they’ve moved in together, but I went along with it anyway since generally speaking, I liked her. She came across as genuine and smart, though I really questioned her taste in boyfriends. (This is the second boyfriend I’ve read recently who seems to be in love with calling the heroine “babe.” Ugh.) She’s quickly turned off by the sight of her boyfriend with another woman, and when she goes off in search of someplace else to sleep, she gets discovered by Logan. He takes her to his apartment to warm her up, and the attraction that had been simmering between the two heats up even more.

Logan is the one who introduces Rebecca to the notion that she has submissive tendencies, and he’s amazingly careful at introducing her to BDSM practices. It’s hot, though painstakingly orchestrated, and the two develop a real relationship within the confines of the compressed time period. I was really rooting for them, especially since I never understood her “real” boyfriend’s appeal. I encountered one small problem, though. Logan suffers from nightmares ever since his stint in Iraq. They’re so bad that he almost killed his brother once when his brother tried to wake him up. These nightmares stop Logan from thinking he’ll ever have another relationship. He just can’t trust himself around another person, and refuses to be responsible for hurting them. This needs to be overcome before he can commit to anything with Rebecca. Yet, the way it gets dealt with in the story made me feel cheated. To the author’s credit, she didn’t resolve it in the confines of that long weekend, but the manner in which it was handled felt too easy for the problem’s supposed depths. Her note gave me permission to excuse away the lack of realism in how quickly this BDSM relationship developed, but not in how swiftly his trauma was handled. Perhaps it’s my own experiences with personal traumas that color my reaction to this, but it ended up sucking away some of my pleasure in the last quarter, when I wanted – needed – to be swept up in the romance. It eventually turns this from an amazing read to one I just liked a lot, passionate and engaging for the duration of the weekend, not so much for afterward.

Readability	8/10 – Engrossing, though I started to drift a little toward the end
Hero	7/10 – I really liked him, but I just couldn’t get over how glossed over dealing with his trauma felt
Heroine	8/10 – Warm and genuine
Entertainment value	8/10 – Surprisingly satisfying, and probably would’ve rated higher if it weren’t for my quibbles
World building	9/10 – All of the elements felt authentic…except for the trauma
TOTAL:	40/50

Blood Vice by Keith Melton

TITLE: Blood Vice
AUTHOR: Keith Melton
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 93k)
GENRE: Urban fantasy
COST: $5.50

Boston’s criminal underworld is at war, and vampire Karl Vance has chosen a side. As a hired hit man for the Ricardis, he satisfies his bloodlust by preying only on those who deserve it, but when Maria Ricardi decides to make her own play for power within the family, things take a deadly turn. The rival Lucattis have their own vampire to defend them, Alejandro Delgado, who’s in town primarily to settle the centuries-old vendetta between him and Karl. He recognizes Maria as Karl’s weakness, but his strike against her changes the war irrevocably…for everyone.

NOTE: This is a review originally written for The Electric Elephant.

A vampire as a hit man for the Mafia? How on earth was I supposed to resist a set-up like that? The possibilities of how it could play out were delicious, and with the excerpt detailing him doing a hit, then going off to church to pray for their souls, convinced me to give it a go. I don’t regret the purchase for a second.

Karl Vance is a master vampire, centuries old, living in Boston and subsisting both physically and financially on hits for the Mafia family, the Ricardis. He lives with a woman/creature named Xiesha, who he saved from the Order of the Thorn years earlier (a group of religious warriors who kill evil supernatural creatures, Karl has an amnesty agreement with them). In payment for saving her life, Xiesha serves as Karl’s servant, protecting his home with magical wards, fighting for him, conducting business during the day when he can’t, etc. They have an easy equilibrium with their existence until Karl gets an email (Nosferatu of the digital age) asking for a meeting with Ricardi. It’s not just with the father, but also Maria, his daughter. Maria wants to do more than play accountant for the family. She wants to demonstrate she can do great things for getting the family more power, in hopes that she can show she can take over for her father when the time comes. Her plan is to hit the Lucatti’s cash flow, using Karl to take out targets that earn the rival family a steady income. Karl only agrees after he learns that the Lucattis have Alejandro Delgado for them. Though the Ricardis aren’t aware of it, Delgado is a vampire, who had the same creator/Master Karl did. The two have been enemies ever since Karl killed their Master, and now it looks like they’re going to finish their little war amidst the Boston Mafia families.

This propels the story into its action-packed, labyrinthine plot, gradually picking up speed as new events twist it into a different direction. Karl is an interesting take on the usual vampires in urban fantasies. He recognizes his nature and tries to satisfy it with criminal rather than innocent kills, yet afterward, he prays for their souls, even though religious artifacts of any sort cause him pain and weaken him. Not for his own soul, because by his own admission, there’s no hope for him. As for Maria, she isn’t the usual shrinking violet that generally typifies heroines in urban fantasies where the protagonist is male. She’s very much her daughter’s father, eager to get ahead in the family, uncaring of what it takes. She’s desperate to see and experience what it feels like for someone to die, too, and makes no apology for it when Karl calls her on it. They make great characters to get embroiled with as the story charges into its full momentum.

That changes some when a plot twist nearly halfway through catapults Maria into an entirely new direction (I won’t elaborate, I try to avoid spoilers in reviews if I can help it). The new path her thoughts take, the broody angst about what she’s doing, sits ill for more than a few chapters, while Karl starts to seem more morose as well. Their characters become less the ones I fell for in the beginning and more like angsty archetypes I try to avoid. It takes a while for them to even out, and for my interest and dedication to the characters to reaffirm itself. That, too, is the primary reason this drifts from an outstanding to a very good read in the end.

The prose itself utilizes wonderful incisive imagery, like From this close, Karl could smell the blood in the young woman’s veins. Warm. Rushing through her body as her heart thundered away, life in liquid, a heart-blood sacrament., and Dribbles of red stained the white of his open shirtfront like a scattering of roses on snow. The author combines his precise verbiage with never-ending action, and I finished the story, wishing there was more than this one book. Since this is labeled the first of a series, I can only hope that there will be more to come. While it does have a slight romance within it between Karl and Maria, it’s absolutely not a romance overall. There are miles and miles for this series to go, and I for one would love to see the road Mr. Melton chooses for them.

Readability	10/10 – Incisive imagery, relentless action…absolutely fantastic
Characterization	9/10 – Only a few of the minor characters slip in richness
Plot	8/10 – I have to admit, I didn’t care for the twist halfway through, though it did spiral the story into a new direction
Entertainment value	8/10 – Some of the broody angst on the part of the leads starts to wear thin by 2/3’s of the way through, but otherwise, great
World building	9/10 – I absolutely love the premise, the atmosphere was rich, and with the exception of wanting more about Karl’s past, found everything I could want
TOTAL:	44/50

White Flag by Thom Lane

TITLE: White Flag
AUTHOR: Thom Lane
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.99

Travel writer Charlie has the perfect life. He gets to travel where he wants, do what he wants, all without having to worry about ties. When he meets Matt alongside a French canal, he expects nothing more than something casual. After all, he only has two free nights to stay. But Matt’s charming insistence coaxes Charlie to change his immediate plans, the life he introduces Charlie to entirely too seductive…

I fell in love in this story.

Not with the characters, though they are certainly charming enough, each in his own way. And not with the romance, because honestly, there wasn’t anything new and the ending itself was incredibly sappy and a little contrived.

No, I fell in love with the setting, and more than that, with the author’s delicate, almost ephemeral, prose.

The story is a simple one. Told in 1^st person from Charlie’s perspective, it starts with him fishing in a French canal, relaxed, enjoying the atmosphere, then enjoying the beauty of a young man walking along. The young man, Matt, stops and starts flirting with Charlie, which ends in an arrangement for dinner. One thing leads to another, they spend the night together, and Charlie thinks that’s it. It’s not for Matt. He manages to charm Charlie into coming to his house – his family owns the neighboring vineyard – for dinner and to spend the night. Thus, Charlie gets introduced to a family utterly tied to his surroundings, a trait that both amazes and boggles him as he can’t imagine staying anywhere for that long.

Charlie and Matt function perfectly well in the roles they’re assigned. As a third party observer and a journalist to boot, Charlie is naturally detached from much of what is going on around him, with the exception of Matt. Matt, on the other hand, is charming and affectionate, so much so that any flaws he might have become nonexistent. It flattens his characterization a bit, creating an idealized version of the character instead of something rounder, but his sweetness and charm compensate for that.

Where the story shines is in the author’s voice. Suitable to its setting, there is an ethereal quality to his descriptions and commentary that only heightens that sense of airiness. It felt like I was in France again (I’ve been there a couple times on vacation), that nonchalant whimsy that makes you feel like you’re floating along with the prose. It’s hard to put a finger on any one phrase, though. Sentences like this, He smiled then, with a sort of slow urgency that makes no sense unless you were there, unless you saw it: like saying his wine was honey-dry, the words work against each other, but the moment itself was absolute., make me smile, because of the truth it tells, but on they’re own, they don’t necessarily seem all that remarkable. Instead, it’s a cumulative effect, like floating on your back at the edge of some body of water with small waves lapping at your sides, only to find yourself who knows how much later far away from shore because the tide has carried you out without you realizing it. By the time Charlie sat down with Matt’s family for that first dinner, I was utterly enamored with the story, racing through it to see these two get their happy ending. And even though nothing remarkable happens (and in fact, the sappiness of the ending did ultimately drag down my overall enjoyment of the story), it didn’t matter. I had already surrendered to their love story, and only wish it had been longer, that some of the time they spent together had been as lovingly detailed as the beginning rather than hastily summarized. A delicate, romantic read that will remain a keeper.

Readability	10/10 – I’ll admit it, I absolutely fell in love with the delicate romanticism of the writing in this
Hero #1	7/10 – A little detached, necessarily so, from the events, but I still liked him
Hero #2	7/10 – Suffers from the same fate of idealized hero, though he’s still sweet and charming
Entertainment value	8/10 – I fell in love with this because of the writing rather than the characters
World building	10/10 – The setting came to life for me, ringing very true
TOTAL:	42/50

Going with Gravity by Cate Masters

TITLE: Going with Gravity
AUTHOR: Cate Masters
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 17k)
GENRE: Contemporary romance
COST: $3.50

Publicist Allison Morris gets a midnight call from the partying actress she represents, necessitating an emergency trip to Hawaii. On the plane ride, she meets surfer Wes Hamilton, and feels an instant attraction. But when the plane is forced to make an emergency landing, their relationship takes on another turn, all the way until Allison’s job rears its ugly head again…

A lot of these short contemporary romances that I get, very often from Wild Rose Press, are what I consider reading snacks. They satisfy an immediate need, but there’s often not anything special about it at all. In fact, these are the hardest reviews to write, because often there’s not anything specifically wrong about these stories to point a finger at and say, “That’s why I didn’t enjoy it.” Too many times, though, there’s just not anything outstanding about it, either. This is one of those stories.

The story opens with Allison getting woken up from a night’s sleep by her incredibly needy employer. Michelle, the actress for whom she works, is always getting into trouble and needs spin put on a lot of situations. She’s also blind to everything Allison does for her, with high expectations and offering low rewards. It’s easy to feel sorry for Allison for working for such a witch, but at the same time, I have to wonder why, if she’s so good at what she does, she puts up with it. It makes her feel like a doormat, which is never a great way to make me like a heroine.

Things pick up a little when she meets Wes. Wes is gorgeous, charming, and on the surface, not her type, but the chemistry feels genuine and it’s easy to go along for the ride. Wes doesn’t feel like a real character until far too late in the story, instead epitomizing the perfect man for the time she needs him to be. It’s all right for the length of the story, but it holds it back from making me truly engage with the romance of it. His character also adds to the whole muddled feeling of the ending. Questions are raised once he’s in Hawaii (like what the heck really is the deal between him and his brother?) and never answered, as well as the whole resolution with Michelle. It makes the story feel half-baked at the finish. Pleasant, but nothing I’ll remember.

Readability	7/10 – Clean, easy, believable, though it fell apart toward the end
Hero	5/10 – Charming, but felt a little too perfect and one-dimensional for any real emotional depth
Heroine	6/10 – I liked how professionally with it she seemed, though it weakened when the hero got involved.
Entertainment value	5/10 – Pleasant and diverting for what it is
World building	7/10 – Some nice details about their lives and Hawaii, but there are a lot of questions left unanswered that bring it down
TOTAL:	30/50

Bound by Blood by Evie Byrne

TITLE: Bound by Blood
AUTHOR: Evie Byrne
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 40k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $4.50

As the middle son, Gregor Faustin doesn’t expect to be the first one married off. So when his mother has a prophetic dream about his future mate, he fights his so-called fate as long as he can. He’s his own vampire, after all. And this Madelena Lopez de Victoria is human, of all things. And a librarian. And definitely not what he wants. He avoids her as long as he can, but when he accidentally hits a woman with his car, he’s appalled to discover he’s found her anyway. And now, her blood is calling to him…

Though this is the second of the Faustin stories, this actually takes place before the first chronologically. When I finished it, I was dying to go back to the first and see where Gregor and Maddy might have played in the first, and like all good series, it has me dying to read the story of the last remaining brother. Because this was fantastic, and now I want more.

At the start of the story, Gregor is a gruff businessman, focused on his clubs, not ready to settle down in the slightest. He’s more than a little miffed that he’s been singled out as the first to get married, to someone who seems the antithesis of everything he’d ever imagined. Maddy is a librarian and human, to boot. He does everything he can to avoid it, and succeeds…until he hits her with his car. From there, it’s all downhill. In person, she’s even less than he’d hope for, with her glasses and hair that hides her face and frumpy clothing. Then he makes the mistake of wanting to help her heal, tastes her blood, and the bonding process starts.

I really liked Gregor, but I loved Maddy. She’s funny and down-to-earth, and the issues she has never cross the line into melodrama. She doesn’t care what other people think, and yet, cares enough about what’s going on with herself not to want to have to deal with the crap anymore. She resists Gregor as much as she can, but when she gives in, it’s hot, it’s seductive, and I wanted more. Much more.

While there are serious issues at hand, and thankfully, the author doesn’t cheat on resolving them, this isn’t a heavy story at all. The humor and genuine chemistry between to the two leads carries it far into romantic comedy territory (Strange things happen when you and me and cars mix, Faustin.), careening from event to event with an irresistible vim and vigor. That’s one of the things I love about this author. There’s a certain energy to her work that dares the reader not to tag along. It’s there in her voice, the slightly twisted spin she puts on normally mundane details. It’s in nearly of her characters, leaping from the page in crisp, vivid life. Even when the world building feels a little muddied (still original, but not nearly as cleanly presented as it was in the first book), her work shines.

I have the third book on my TBR. I’ve had it there since it was released. I can’t wait to see where she decides to go with Mikhail, the oldest brother. If ever there was a reluctant hero, I think he’ll be it.

Readability	9/10 – Funny without losing its pathos
Hero	8/10 – I really liked his gruff nature combined with his romantic side
Heroine	9/10 – Manages to be real and flawed without ever falling into melodrama
Entertainment value	9/10 – Definitely stronger than the first book, worth it for the rewarding romance that doesn’t take the easy road as well as the humor
World building	8/10 – Elements of the vampire/vampyr world didn’t seem quite as consistent this time around, but still a welcome departure from the usual fare
TOTAL:	43/50

Wicked Pleasures by assorted authors

TITLE: Wicked Pleasures
AUTHOR: Kris Cherita, Elizabeth Coldwell, Cynthia W. Gentry, Ralph Greco Jr., Alex Picchetti, Jean Roberta, Elle Rose, A. Silenus, Peter Tupper, Sage Vivant
PUBLISHER: Ravenous Romance
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 48k)
GENRE: Erotica
COST: $4.99

A collection of twelve erotic short stories, all exploring the kinkier side of women’s sexuality…

There’s a sentence in the editor’s introduction to this anthology that I really, really like. Another way to look at it, in terms of sex and love, is that evil is nonconsensual, while wicked is consensual. It’s astute, and typifies all of the stories within this collection. While I can’t say that I necessarily liked them all, I find myself respecting the anthology for its efforts, because of that introduction. It presents a well-rounded, healthy view on sexuality, embracing a diversity of relationships.

The sexuality contained within the stories tends to rely heavily on BDSM and power relationships, with both female dominants and female submissives, f/f interactions, and ménages. It’s probably not for the faint of heart, though the cover and blurb should make that perfectly clear. These are also not romances, though more than one has a romantic relationship within it. This is purely for the erotic factor. Don’t expect anything more.

A large portion of the stories ran middle of the road for me, but four of them stood out. “Temporary Reversals” by A. Silenus is about a man who discovers his submissive side, only to fear he’s losing the woman who inspired it in him. Not only is it well-written and the characters are fully fleshed out, but it offers an almost melancholy desperation as he tries to hold on to the one thing he needs.

“Just Friends” by Cynthia W. Gentry is a little more light-hearted. Jane used to have a long-distance relationship with Matt, broke up when she realized it wouldn’t work, then made up and became friends a year later. She’s in New York on business and meets up with him for dinner, one thing leads to another, and all of a sudden, one of the fantasies he’d encouraged in her starts coming true. For me, this one was all about the characters. I loved the relationship between the two, and then the third that gets introduced. The sex was hot, as well. I was only let down a little by the ending, though that seems to be a weakness amongst most of the anthology’s offerings.

“Fair Game” by Elizabeth Coldwell is a comeuppance story about an Englishman named Donovan who deliberately haunts bars on the weekends when hen parties are in full swing, to pick a different woman up each time. They’re all one-night stands, because he has no interest in getting tied down. But his latest conquest has a different plan in mind. The characters in this one sparkled, and the sex, though not the most erotic of the bunch, worked well. I liked this one as much as I did because of how well it succeeded as a short story, feeling complete without letting me down in any regard.

“The Invited” by Ralph Greco, Jr. is the story of a woman who is about to get married. On her last weekend fling, something agreed upon with her fiancé though they’re not sharing details, she invites five of her former lovers to a hotel – at staggered times, so there’s no overlap – for one last spanking session. Because that’s what gets her off. On the surface, it’s a highly charged sexual fantasy, but this one has more depth than that. Surprisingly, too, all of the men who actually show up all feel real and distinct. Really well done.

The rest of the stories don’t really inspire me to mention them specifically, but in reviewing the ones I did really enjoy, the one common thing holding them together is the characterization. They all shine. Short stories don’t have to skimp on that, you see. Even if you’re just writing erotica. These stories are proof.

Readability	7/10 – Mostly clean editing (though one story doesn’t know its thans from its thens and it’s very annoying)
Erotica	5/10 – Mostly humdrum, with only a few standing out
Characterization	7/10 – Some of them are surprisingly sharp, though there are typically weak ones
Entertainment value	6/10 – Most of these are fairly average, I’d only seek out four of these authors on their own
World building	7/10 – Most of the stories do well in bringing their erotic milieus to life
TOTAL:	32/50

His Black Pearl by Colette Howard

TITLE: His Black Pearl
AUTHOR: Colette Howard
PUBLISHER: Changeling Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 17k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $3.99

Hallie Brandt has just been offered the commission that could change her career. The only drawback is the fact her new patron, the sexy Aaron, insists the nude she paints is herself…

The erotic promise in this short novella drew me in, especially since the hero seemed unrepentant in his pursuit, and the heroine reasonably intelligent. I even stuck with it when it felt a little manipulative and easy, because there was a romanticism to the sexuality that appealed to me. I liked both the leads, too, even if I didn’t feel like I knew them very well. But even in a story of this length, it just didn’t last.

Hallie is an artist, trying to break through a certain distance in her painting. Aaron is keen to point it out, but it’s clearly a means to get her into bed. The attraction between them, even at the start, sizzles, though the overt comparisons between Hallie and the black pearl Aaron wants as part of the painting are heavy-handed to the point of being unnecessary. I didn’t need to be reminded constantly. I just wanted to see them get on with their romance.

And they do. Multiple times. Once their relationship is consummated, however, it loses some of its edge that I liked in the beginning, a weakness that only grows worse as the ending approaches. There are hints scattered throughout the book of Aaron’s true nature, but the follow-through on the conclusion is ambiguous at best. I’m never completely sure what is going on, or why, and I’m left with even more questions than I would’ve had if it hadn’t gone in that direction at all. It drags the story into erotic romance, when it was working far better as erotica. I would’ve preferred a more clear-cut resolution. As such, it becomes an intriguing idea with a mildly satisfying execution, rather than anything really memorable.

Readability	7/10 – An easy eroticism that hooks the reader in, only the ambiguity of the ending lets it down
Hero	6/10 – Enigmatic on purpose, though his persistence is definitely sexy
Heroine	7/10 – I had problems with her stiffness in the beginning, and completely didn’t buy the ending, but the eventual explanation of her attitude helped to compensate
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was really enjoying this as an erotic short until the ambiguous ending ended up raising more questions than answers, and left me unsatisfied
World building	7/10 – The beginning and everything with her art was very rich; it’s the rest of it that lets it down
TOTAL:	33/50

Three of a Kind by Sean Michael

TITLE: Three of a Kind
AUTHOR: Sean Michael
PUBLISHER: Torquere
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 30k)
GENRE: Contemporary gay menage erotic romance
COST: $3.95

After an explosive fight with his “boyfriend,” Zane steals his truck and heads west, only to break down at the side of the road, six hours away from his destination. He’s rescued by Butch, the owner of the junk yard, who takes him home and offers him a place to stay as he gets the truck fixed and heals up. Butch and his lover Randy are interested in more than nursing the young man back to health, though…

I think it’s time for me to admit that Sean Michael’s books are just not for me. This is the third book I’ve read by him, though only the second I’ve reviewed, and it’s gone downhill since I struggled to get through Bent. While I can appreciate some of what he does with characterization, his voice is just far too spare to satisfy me. I need more than the skeletal dialogue that comprises the majority of the story, and the lack of any kind of detail – except for the occasional scattering – prevents me from getting immersed. I’m a visual reader, not auditory. I need visual clues far more than anything else to lose myself in a story. If I can’t see it, I can’t get into it.

This gay ménage is symptomatic of everything I find difficult. There’s a heavy imbalance toward dialogue, much of which feels directionless and inane, and while I had no problems differentiating between the three men, I was never able to connect emotionally to any of them, not even poor battered Zane. The build-up to the actual ménage was handled well, with both Butch and Randy understanding of the time Zane needed, but once they reach that plateau halfway through, all they do is have sex. It’s all right for what it was, but I was just too disconnected by that point to be really interested.

The bare bones plot of Zane’s abusive boyfriend gets resolved far too easily at the end, too. It just happens, with no intervention from any of the three men, enhancing the sense of passivity that prevails for me throughout the story. Zane does counter that to some degree by refusing to take advantage of Butch’s generous nature and actually pulling his own weight, but generally speaking, it’s not enough. That pretty much characterizes my reaction throughout the whole thing. Not enough. But at least I know now.

Readability	5/10 – Calling it spare is generous
Menage	5/10 – I didn’t dislike the guys together, though I can’t say I believe they’ll last very long
Characterization	6/10 – The fact that all three guys had distinct personalities is the best part about this story
Entertainment value	4/10 – I was bored for most of it
World building	3/10 – Focus is on dialogue and very little else
TOTAL:	23/50

Lost Gods by Kim Knox

TITLE: Lost Gods
AUTHOR: Kim Knox
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 63k)
GENRE: Sci-fi futuristic erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Waking up from a cryogenic tube with no memory isn’t the worst of Katya Ortaega’s problems. Neither is her attraction to James Kinsare, the extraordinary man who rescued her. It’s the fact that coming back to life…just might be the death of her. The one name she remembers – Paxton – seems to be the source of all the danger that now chases James and Katya to their doom…

I’m not even going to try and explain the details of this book. It’s convoluted, complex, and would end up taking up more space than I usually allow for my entire review. Suffice it to say, Lost Gods is the story of a terraformer scientist named Katya Ortaega, who wakes up from a thirty-year stasis in a cryogenic tube without any memory, and almost immediately ends up running for her life, with a man she’s incredibly attracted to at her side who keeps telling her that as soon as she has her memory back, things will definitely become less amicable between them. It’s an intriguing start, right from the get-go, and both leads are entertaining enough – smart, funny, confident – to keep me going even before the action kicks into a high gear.

That doesn’t take long. The action never stops. When they’re not physically running, they’re arguing, or having sex, or Katya is having action-packed dreams which she recognizes as memories. Each chapter ends on another cliffhanger, twisting the story into a new direction. It’s next to impossible to stop reading at the end of one, too, because the need to go on, to follow these characters along this new path, is too great to resist. It left me breathless, and hungry to see how it was all resolved.

James and Katya are both strong individuals, with their own snarky attitudes and enough attraction to keep me panting for more, even when I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Unfortunately, that happens more than once. With all the twists and constant forward motion of story, some of the explanations about the political machinations involved in everything that’s going on get murky. It would be easy to get lost, and hurts the story in the end, but honestly, I was having so much fun with what was going on, and enjoyed both leads so much, I didn’t really care too much. Could it have been better explained? Oh, yeah. The 1^st person presentation means everything is viewed through a Katya filter, and with her memory like Swiss cheese, and her feelings all over the place, it’s understandably muddled. But the use of cliffhangers kept me wrapped up in the events to the degree that this flaw is minor for me.

This was a sexy, fun-packed read, with a lot of fascinating Machiavellian detailing to both the plot and the worlds in which the characters reside. I’ve got another of this author’s books on my TBR pile. I’m really looking forward to seeing what else she has to offer.

Readability	9/10 – Action-packed and snarky, the author doesn’t give the reader a chance to take a breath
Hero	9/10 – His bad pick-up lines notwithstanding, he can rescue me from a cryogenic tube anytime
Heroine	9/10 – Smart and kickass
Entertainment value	8/10 – Some of the explanations for stuff at the end gets a little jumbled, and they don’t always pick the most appropriate times to have sex, but…I was having too much fun to really care
World building	7/10 – I loved the possibilities of everything that was presented, but they were overly complex and not clearly explained in the end
TOTAL:	42/50