Warrior's Cross by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

TITLE: Warrior’s Cross
AUTHOR: Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 102k)
GENRE: Gay suspense erotic romance
COST: $6.99

Tuesday nights are Cameron Jacobs’ favorites. That’s the night the tall, dark, mysterious stranger comes in, sits at one of his tables, and always orders the same thing. His crush seems a little silly until his customer expresses a little more interest. Then, on Christmas Eve, Cameron’s whole world gets turned upside down when said customer – one Julian Cross – asks him for a walk…

I wanted to like this book. I really did. Though I’d passed on other offerings by this author duo in the past (the excerpts were clearly headhopping, and I deliberately avoid buying those if I can help it), my recent exposure to Roux’s solo work, combined with both a premise that sounded intriguing and an excerpt that seemed to stay contained in one POV, convinced me to give this one a go. It was actually fairly engrossing for a while. But only for a while. Because ultimately, two things really let me down.

Cameron is a beta hero. No doubts about it. He’s average looking, in an average job, with self-admittedly nothing more exciting to do than work most of the time. When Julian first expresses an interest in him, Cameron is stunned. He seizes the opportunity, though, convinced Julian will get bored and move on eventually. When Julian doesn’t, Cameron is just as surprised as anybody else. Nearly everyone close to Julian questions him what he sees in Cameron. The same happens to Cameron. And honestly? So did I. Other than the fact that Cameron treated Julian like a normal person, I just couldn’t understand the appeal. Because I liked Julian for nearly all of the book. I thought he was incredibly hot. But I never bought them as a long-term couple because I just couldn’t see why Julian kept bothering. Cameron was flat, and boring, and maybe that’s what Julian wanted, but spending so much time in Cameron’s POV, listening to him go on and on and on about his insecurity…it got old. Very old. And painful to read.

The other aspect that really pulled me out of the story is, I think, a quirk of the authors’ style. They overuse dialogue tags. I don’t mean just going back and forth between two characters with a tag on each character’s line. I mean, multiple tags in the same speech by the same character within the same paragraph. Like this one:

"Do I look like I'm feeling better?" Julian demanded. "Do I seem to be in a better mood?" he asked sarcastically. "Preston!" he shouted suddenly. "Give me my fucking nuggets," he demanded as he turned, only to find Preston standing behind him with a box of chicken in his hand. "Goddammit," Julian offered before snatching the box and stalking out of the room with his food.

There are five different dialogue tags within the same paragraph. Two of them are even the same word. The adverbs are all over the place with the tags, as well. It’s not unique to this paragraph; it happens straight from the beginning of the book. It’s not quite as noticeable then, however, since Julian is very taciturn for the first third of the story. Less dialogue means it doesn’t stand out more. But as soon as the communication starts to open up…there you go.

I know it won’t bother a lot of people. I’ve seen this book come highly recommended all over the place, so clearly, a lot of people didn’t notice it or didn’t care. But I did, and I do, and I just can’t get past this stylistic thing enough to enjoy the work. It feels sloppy to me, and the repetition gets boring. Boring is the kiss of death for a story, especially a suspense-oriented one. No matter how mysterious the alpha hero might be.

Readability	6/10 – Though the action scenes were engrossing, any time dialogue got involved, my immersion disappeared
Hero #1	5/10 – Honestly? I was questioning why Julian liked him so much just like all the characters were
Hero #2	6/10 – This would have been higher if it weren’t for the last chapter
Entertainment value	6/10 – I wanted to like this so much more than I did
World building	6/10 – Except for the restaurants and the pets, there were more questions left unanswered than not
TOTAL:	29/50

Favorite Novellas of 2009

For those people following my year end favorites, novellas are next. Last year, they were heavily weighted for Samhain, a testimony to the quality I often find over there. This year, the balance is more even, with four e-publishers represented as well as both het and m/m. There' s even a repeat of an author from last year's list, which goes to show how much a fan I'm turning out to be.

4th Runner Up
NEG UB2 by Rick R. Reed

This is one of those cases where the sequel is better than the original. While I enjoyed VGL Male Seeks Same, the emotion in this was so much more palpable that there's really no comparison. They engulfed me, even when I had slight issues with the protagonist's melodramatic ways.

3rd Runner Up
Bound by Blood by Evie Byrne

Evie Byrne is my repeat author on this list, with the second of her vampire series. While the first book was certainly solid, this one outshone it. Both her hero and heroine were strong individuals, the sex was hot, and it epitomizes what I consider her best strength - the sheer energy that flows through her work.

2nd Runner Up
Unrequited by Abigail Roux

For anybody who read my recent review of this novella, its presence on this list should not come as a surprise. Its dialogue is some of the best I've read all year, its relationships some of the most real. I loved that these men felt like they should have been sitting in my living room, and I adored that the author made simple kissing more erotic than a lot of the far more explicit work out there. An absolutely lovely little gem.

1st Runner Up
Selkie Island by Jorrie Spencer

There are a few things that almost always stop me from finishing a blurb. The fae. Mate talk. Weird shifters. Paranormal water elements. But because I like this author, and because I loved this cover so much - enough for it to be one of my favorites from the year - I gave this one a go when I might not have normally. What I discovered was one of the most tender stories I read all year. It's evocative and atmospheric, with a truly wonderful love story.

And my favorite novella of 2009 is...
Losing It by Kate Willoughby

Finding an author whose humor meshes with your own is always a joy. When they can actually write, too? Even better. I discovered this author with this wonderfully funny, cheerfully romantic story, and as much as I love her, I still consider it my favorite of her work. Just like the last story, it proves that in the hands of a talented author, it's possible for me to look past personal peccadillos and fall in love harder than I would have imagined possible.

Unrequited by Abigail Roux

TITLE: Unrequited
AUTHOR: Abigail Roux
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 34k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.99

Attorney Vic Bronsen has been in love with Owen for the last five years, but settled for their casual sexual relationship and friendship instead. When one last straw proves to be too much, he takes up his best friend Shane’s invitation to take a month off and stay with Shane at the beach. It just remains to be seen if he can be strong enough to move on…

Good stories aren’t always about breathtaking plots, or incredible prose, or high drama. Sometimes, all it takes to make a story good – and even great – are characters that leap from the page and practically act out the story in front of me, they seem that real. This is one of those stories.

It’s not a high action story. It’s a character study more than anything else, with these three men slowly unfolding before my eyes. Vic has been in love with Owen, a cop in town he has a casual sexual relationship with, but Owen is oblivious to his affection. Owen is presented as very in the moment. I never saw him as mean-spirited in his disregard for Vic. Rather, he just doesn’t notice. There’s no malicious intent, which says it all for me. So when Vic decides enough is enough, and accepts Shane’s invitation, I supported his decision as the smart, mature thing to do, even if it’s hard as hell.

Where Vic came to life, however, was in all his interactions with Shane. Their dialogue just crackles. It’s funny, it’s real, and it felt like any number of male friendships I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. It’s probably some of the best dialogue I’ve read all year, and won me over almost from the start. These two acted like friends, treated each other with the same kind of camaraderie I’d expect to see, and yet, as the time they spend together deepens, the growth they make feels perfectly natural. I was even forgiving of the rather manufactured drama that gets introduced towards the end, mostly because I recognized it as necessary to truly resolve the romance. I absolutely loved these two, and rooted for them nearly from their introductions.

Besides the wonderful dialogue, this has some of the most sensual kissing scenes I’ve read this year, too. I didn’t even miss the more explicit scenes, though those came later. I could very well have been satisfied with just the kissing. They were just that good. The whole thing…one of the most satisfying romances I’ve read all year, and it makes me enormously happy to end my 2009 reviews on such a high note.

Readability	9/10 – Sparkling dialogue, realistic characters, an easygoing atmosphere, it all sucked me in
Hero #1	9/10 – Funny, real, and smart
Hero #2	8/10 – Warm and real, though I knew what was coming, it didn’t ruin my reaction to him
Entertainment value	9/10 – I totally fell for the friendship they had, flowing so naturally into a romance
World building	8/10 – There’s an entire section of this that details their trip to the beach that brings it all to life
TOTAL:	43/50