The Cowboy and the Cougar by Helen Hardt

TITLE: The Cowboy and the Cougar
AUTHOR: Helen Hardt
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 30k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.00

A bad day has forty-year-old Holly eager for distraction, so when a handsome younger cowboy offers to buy her a drink, she accepts his attention and has a fabulous one-night stand, never learning his real name or giving hers away. Six months later, in the middle of a drawing class, her cowboy shows up again. This time, he’s not going to let her disappear without at least finding out who she is…

I know there’s an abundance of cougar stories out there these days, but for some reason, I have a soft spot for them, even when I know that so many of them really aren’t that good. This one had hopes of meeting my expectations this time, but unfortunately, I figured out fairly quickly that I’ll have to avoid erotic works by this author in the future.

It’s not that it’s bad. It's just that it's really, really average. It opens with Holly, the forty-year-old single lawyer, having a real bad day (the details of which are not provided until the end), and picking up a young gorgeous cowboy for a one-night stand to help lift her mood. They have a great time, and then, she sneaks out the next morning. Cut to six months later. For a reason the reader has yet to learn, she’s left the law firm she worked for to be her own boss, but she’s only doing what she must to fund her rediscovered love for art, and the classes she is taking at the community college. She runs into the cowboy again when he poses nude for one of her classes, and he tracks her down afterward, sticking with her persistently until she agrees to go out with him. He had a fabulous time, too, on that one night, and wants more of it. Their romance progresses from there.

Holly and Jack (the cowboy) are both nice enough, though both are flawed as enjoyable characters for me. My problems with Holly stem from the fact that she is adamant about things not working out with Jack, first because of the age difference (he’s eleven years younger than her) and then for another reason the author plays coy in revealing until two-thirds of the way through the story. I never understood why she wasn’t upfront with him from the start. It made no sense for her not to be, especially since she seemed so determined to push him out of her life. My issue with Jack came from the opposite reaction. He seemed like the romance staple, the too good to be true hero. He’s gorgeous, comfortable modeling nude, has an adorable son, is an excellent father, the cowboy thing…the list goes on. I can’t think of a flaw that would have made him feel as real as Holly did, and having such an idealized hero in the face of her real world drama kept me from believing too much in either of them.

But my biggest problem comes from the author’s sex scenes. She uses terminology that doesn’t work for me and yanked me completely out of scenes. Things like, “Her sex wept.” and referring to the “soiled condom” when he pulled it off after sex. Choices like these, while probably fine for some readers, invariably ruin my enjoyment, and when it’s an erotic romance like this…well, that’s a good part of the story. If I do try another story by this author, it would likely have to be something that wasn’t erotic. I don’t think her idea of sexy and my idea of sexy necessarily match up.

Readability	6/10 – The sex scenes hung me up, big time
Hero	6/10 – Sweet if a tad too idealized
Heroine	6/10 – Her lack of coming clean at the start bugged me
Entertainment value	5/10 – The characters are fine, but I have a feeling I’ll have to avoid erotic works by this author in the future
World building	6/10 – Some is provided at the ranch, but otherwise, it felt very anywhere and lifeless
TOTAL:	29/50

Because of the Brave by Laura Baumbach, Z.A. Maxfield, & Josh Lanyon

TITLE: Because of the Brave
AUTHOR: Laura Baumbach, Z.A. Maxfield, Josh Lanyon
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 48k)
GENRE: Gay erotic romance
COST: $7.00

A trio of erotic stories about gay military men.

Purchase of the Because of the Brave through the Aspen Mountain Press website through September 11, 2009, will donate 15% toward the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national organization dedicated to helping military personnel impacted by the “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” policy signed into law in 1993. It’s a great charity, and the anthology more than worth it, but I’m going to go on the record and say I just wish the publisher paid more attention to their editing for works that will receive this kind of attention. To be frank, I don’t expect much from Aspen Mountain releases. Their editing is inconsistent at best, and I suspect that’s because the authors themselves vary in the strength of their technical abilities. But it’s frustrating to read something that’s clearly hoped to have strong sales and find it riddled with so many easy mistakes. Even Lanyon’s story suffers (how on earth does canon get mistaken for cannon in a military story?), and as much as I’d urge people to buy this, I do it with the caveat that it will probably really bother those readers who are sensitive to technical mistakes.

The anthology starts with out with Laura Baumbach’s “Designated Target.” Carson Crosby is spending Thanksgiving working at a local food bank. He is alone in the world after the death of his brother two months earlier. He spies a big, burly guy who is obviously military hanging around, and after a very brief conversation with him, flees when the way the man says his name just like his dead brother used to. The man helps out with an encounter with an abusive guy outside the church, and they stick together, getting to know each other and indulging their attraction. In reference to the editorial issues I mentioned, Baumbach’s story has it the worst (His imagination supplied a vivid reason for the respectable fabric bugle made me giggle hysterically because I’m fairly sure that g and l in bugle should be transposed), and thus, makes it harder than it should be to get through the novella. The story is saved by Baumbach’s passion and affecting characters. The chemistry between Carson and China (the military guy) leaps off the page, as does Carson’s grief. I found myself drawn to China, much like Carson is, and wish I could have had even more of him.

Next comes “Jumping Off Places” by Z.A. Maxfield. Peter Hsu has returned to the small town where he grew up to be there when his terminally ill mother dies. There, he meets Robin, the Jamaican CNA taking care of her at the hospice. Robin is out and proud of it, while Peter has hid his sexuality from everyone, including his mother. He’s been trying to live up to the hero image of his dead cop father, and finds himself failing at every turn. Dealing with the impending death of his mother is yet another failure in his eyes. This was the story in the anthology that got to me the most, and the one I found myself still thinking about long after it was over. There are a lot of different emotions going on in this. While there is definitely a romance going on between Peter and Robin, it is cloaked in layers and layers of issues, not the least of which is how these two very different men deal with the loss of a woman who means the world to both of them. The fact that Peter is in the military is miniscule in the face of this, as is the issue of their races (Peter is half-Chinese and has been dealing with that discrimination his entire life, while Robin is black). Neither of these really get explored, but I didn’t mind. I was too invested in all the other feelings that were going on. There’s the guilt, and the grief, and Peter’s inability to come out or let anybody in. I had thought I was affected by Carson’s grief in the first story, but that got eclipsed by how much I related and felt for Peter. He was the heart of this compassionate story.

Rounding out the anthology is “Until We Meet Once More” by Josh Lanyon. Army Ranger Captain Vic Black has a new assignment – to rescue a surviving SEAL in the middle of Afghanistan. He’s even more determined when he learns that it’s Sean Kennedy, the lover from the Naval Academy that he left behind. Lanyon’s story is drastically different from its predecessors, focused far more on the taut action of the moment, interspersed with emotionally taut flashbacks. It’s also considerably shorter, very concise in its presentation. While it’s the most technically proficient of the three, with elegant, crisp world-building that immerses the reader into the razor edge environment of the Middle East, it was also the story that engaged me the least emotionally. I was caught up in the action, but the flashbacks weren’t quite enough to create the fervency it felt necessary to appreciate the wallop of an ending. I’m not sure if making it longer would have helped, because then it would have been a different story rather than the whirlwind action story it was. It works well on that level. It just didn’t succeed as well as a romance for me.

Readability	7/10 – I just can’t get past the weak editing to better appreciate these
Romance	7/10 – The romance is strongest in the first two stories
Characterization	7/10 – More uneven than I would have expected from these authors
Entertainment value	7/10 – Definitely recommendable
World building	7/10 – Lanyon’s is by far the strongest in this area
TOTAL:	35/50

The Shape of a Heart by Kimberly Gardner

TITLE: The Shape of a Heart
AUTHOR: Kimberly Gardner
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 27k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $5.00

For the past two years, Zach Jensen has been grieving the death of his partner, the first man he ever loved, the man he spent a decade of his life with. Even now, just walking into the bookstore they owned together has the power to break him. When his business partner hires a new barista, Zach’s immediate attraction terrifies him. He doesn’t want to betray Jay. He’s not ready. But Keith Harte is. And he’s not afraid of his attraction to his boss. He’s willing to act on it. As long as Zach is willing to take a chance…

The opening of this short novella is gut-wrenching in its honesty. Zach walks into his store and gets overwhelmed by memories of his dead partner. The grief comes through the virtual page, and within paragraphs, the reader is completely in Zach’s corner, feeling the depths of his pain, aching for him to find some measure of peace. This was the story I was hoping to read, frankly, and though it’s suggested this is what the story will be about, ultimately that isn’t true. As a result, I ended up being disappointed by the entire experience.

The first half works to some degree. There are no scenes as painful as the first, and after Keith is introduced, some of the exploration of Zach’s emotions is a tad shallow. There’s still a certain charm about the story, though, since both Keith and Zach are very likeable men, so I didn’t mind so much when the romance felt a bit of a retread. However, once the two have their first date, the story shifts. The focus is no longer on Zach getting over his grief and moving on, but on Keith and an ex-boyfriend who is now stalking him. This particular development seemed to come completely out of the blue. If it was hinted at early in the story, it was done so vaguely that it left no impact on me whatsoever. The entire last third is devoted to Keith’s growing paranoia and his stalker ex’s tactics to terrify him. It felt like a completely different book, just as Keith felt like an entirely different character. It didn’t work for me at all, but the worst was probably the ending. All the resolution happens off the page. Zach arrives on the scene, they talk a little bit, and then it jumps to the epilogue a year later. It’s not fulfilling and feels like a tremendous copout, even if I actually cared about what was going on at that point. I didn’t. I missed the Zach and his grieving angle a lot, and kept waiting for that to come back.

It never did. A lot of the questions I had regarding Zach and his dead partner were never answered, either, which didn’t help at all with making up for the switch to Keith in the end. All the potential I saw in that pivotal first scene disappeared, leaving me unfulfilled and ultimately disappointed.

Readability	7/10 – Minor headhopping, but mostly easy
Hero #1	7/10 – So much potential in grieving partner lost as soon as he sleeps with Keith
Hero #2	6/10 – The stalker ex comes out of nowhere and completely changes the character
Entertainment value	5/10 – Potential gets lost in stalker story that comes out of nowhere and the grieving widow angle disappearing
World building	7/10 – The food details were great, but Zach’s life and history which is so pivotal never gets followed through
TOTAL:	32/50

Her Savage Lover by Brenda Williamson

TITLE: Her Savage Lover
AUTHOR: Brenda Williamson
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 14k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $2.50

Eden has returned west, to the home where she was raised, to the half-breed Cherokee she loved before getting pregnant and being banished to Boston. She brings their son with her, to finally tell Brant that he is a father. But Brant can’t forget that she left him once. How does he know she’s not going to try and take his son away from him again?

One of my kinks came around to bite me in the butt again. I knew it was short. I knew that it sounded like there was a lot to cram into such a small space. But the excerpt seemed kind of sweet and romantic, and I decided to give it a shot. More like a shot in the foot.

Editorially, the story is a mess. One character changes name halfway through from Sully to Scully. Words get used incorrectly. Even the heroine’s last name has one spelling in the blurb, and a different one in the story itself. The simplistic prose doesn’t help matters, and the lack of any smoothness in character development or growth makes it next to impossible to engage with the characters. Reading it was a real chore.

The characters are just as muddled as the prose. Brant goes from cold, to hot, to seductive, back to cold again, while Eden is at turns fearful, needy, hateful, and loving. Sometimes all on the same page. There are no smooth transitions from mood to mood to mood, which steals any life the characters might have on their own. It doesn’t help that the story’s brevity takes away any opportunity to explore the complicated feelings involved for both parties, or give them any kind of time to react to the dire events that transpire. Maybe if it was longer, there would’ve been space, but then I can’t help but wonder if the author wouldn’t have just tried to cram even more stuff in. Either way, it just doesn’t work.

Readability	5/10 – Multiple editing issues and immature writing don’t help a story too compressed to be effective.
Hero	4/10 – Flat and scattered
Heroine	3/10 – Even flatter than the hero, with no reasonable flow to her multiple moods
Entertainment value	3/10 – Only the fact that I have a thing for Native American heroes helps this.
World building	4/10 – There’s a lack of real time or place in this, which is dangerous for a historical
TOTAL:	19/50

Some Gave All by various authors

TITLE: Some Gave All
AUTHOR: Jefferson Dane, Aline de Chevigny, Wayne Greenough, J.M. Snyder
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 51k)
GENRE: Military drama
COST: $4.99

Four tales of varying genres, all celebrating those who serve in the armed forces.

When I first saw the blurbs for this anthology, it was the description of “Memorial Meeting,” by Aline de Chevigny, that prompted me to buy this. This is the story of the grandson and granddaughter of a nurse and soldier from WWI who corresponded but were never able to hook up after the war. The grandchildren are meeting in their elders’ stead, and it was supposed to be love at first sight. Well, in all fairness to the blurb, it was. Unfortunately, it was an absolute mess when it came to reading. The editing on this is some of the worst I’ve seen, with punctuation so poor that it literally changes the meaning of some sentences. Seriously. “He loved her child,” means one thing, while “He loved her, child,” means something else entirely. The entire story is riddled with these kinds of mistakes. When you can’t even convey what you mean, how am I supposed to be able to immerse myself into your story? It doesn’t help that the characterization is flat and unbelievable, either. The weakest story of the four.

“Flyover,” by Jefferson Dane, is a paranormal drama about a soldier rescued from the Afghanistan mountains, who has been traumatized by both the slaughter of his unit and the terror they witnessed on a nightly basis. It is moody and chilling, and proof that strong authors can rise above sloppy editing, because this suffers from none of the mistakes of its predecessor. The slowly built tension in this helps to make the paranormal aspects painted over an all-too-realistic and grim setting believable. Characterization is careful and delicate; I believed completely in all three of the principles in this, even if the psychiatrist is more of a means of ferreting out the story than anything else. By far, the strongest story of the bunch.

Wayne Greenough's “Thanet Blake's Memorial Day” is a little harder to pin down. I’m going to call it a paranormal detective story, but saying that, I had the distinct impression throughout that I was reading a character I was supposed to recognize. It wasn’t until I was done with the anthology and I checked the author’s website that I saw, yes, Thanet Blake has another story as well. With that in mind, I think this story is best served to those who are familiar with the author’s world. It tells the story of Thanet Blake taking his mother to various graveyards on Memorial Day, with new characters introduced every other page. There are so many that they all blurred for me; I had no distinction on any of them except for Thanet and then the ghost he gets coerced into helping. As a standalone story, it just doesn’t work. There’s too much going on in too small a space for any of it to make any kind of impact.

The final story in the anthology is the gay romance, “For the Boys,” by J.M. Snyder. Carl Prosser is stationed in Korea when he meets USO boy Tommy. Love ensues. Some light sex. And it’s sweet. As prolific as Snyder is, I have to admit this is the first time I’ve ever read her. I think I see what the appeal is. The prose is very romantic, and the situation more so. It’s competently written with likable characters, and if it’s not very challenging to read, it still managed to make me smile more than once. Probably the most feel good story of the anthology.

Readability	6/10 – The first and third stories drag this down.
Plot	7/10 – All but Greenough’s story worked for me.
Characterization	6/10 – Dane has the strongest entry, while Greenough bites off more than he can chew and falls flat.
Entertainment value	6/10 – Dane and Snyder are the only two I’d bother with again.
World building	6/10 – Again, Dane and Snyder are the pros here.
TOTAL:	31/50

Arresting Developments by James Buchanan, Josh Lanyon, L. Picaro

TITLE: Arresting Developments
AUTHOR: James Buchanan, Josh Lanyon, L. Picaro
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 37k)
GENRE: Gay erotic romance
COST: $5.99

A collection of three gay erotic romances, each one featuring a cop as part of the romance.

“Coyote Crossing” by James Buchanan starts with border patrol officer Rick Franco about to have his first big bust in a new post in New Mexico. He doesn’t expect to end up busting the baby brother of his best friend growing up, but he covers for Augi in hopes of landing a bigger fish. There might be the beginnings of a nice romance in this story, but they’re lost in all the technical errors that completely pulled me out of it. In the first two pages alone, the author misuses “loose” for “lose,” “waiving” for “waving,” and “gate” for “gait.” I have no idea how I’m supposed to take a story seriously when it’s edited this poorly. It didn’t improve very much, either, which makes it next to impossible to recommend it.

The second story in the anthology is “In a Dark Wood” by Josh Lanyon. Travel writer Tim is on a first date with cop Luke, a camping weekend that has turned unpleasant as they get lost. The night they met, Tim told a story about a house that terrified him at thirteen, and as the date progresses, he becomes increasingly convinced that Luke just asked him out in order to find the house again. Reality, however, is much scarier than that. What I love about Lanyon is here in spades – sympathetic characters and sharp storytelling. Both men are flawed, and there is no easy answer for the romance, making it feel that much more genuine. If I have any complaints, it’s that it doesn’t have the usual tight editing I’ve found in other Lanyon stories. There are some funny tense shifts in an early section of the story that – thankfully – aren’t nearly as jarring to read as some of the technical issues in the other stories.

The last story is “Gamble Everything” by L. Picaro. Officer Adam Coventry is called to help a car that’s crashed into a snowbank, where he meets Marc Doane. He figures out quickly that Marc is retired porn actor Rod Shaftem, but what he doesn’t know is why somebody would shoot at Marc to drive him off the road. It’s up to him to figure out, but a one-night stand with the man might complicate things. In a lot of ways, I have the same difficulty with this story as I did with the first. On the third page of the story, a reference is made to a bar called the Lyon’s Lair. Three sentences later, it’s called the Lyon’s Layer, then later on, it reverts to the original spelling. There are continuity errors as well, like when a condom magically appears later on after Marc says he doesn’t have any. It’s hard to treat a story like a professional publication when it has such glaring errors. It’s bad enough that the development of the relationship is stilted and unbelievable, but it stands even less of a chance for me enjoy it when I have to struggle with the prose itself.

Unless you’re a fan of one or more of the authors, I’m not sure I can recommend the anthology as a whole. Only Lanyon’s story engaged me. This wasn’t the example I needed to make myself a fan of either of the other authors.

Readability	6/10 – Sloppy editing drags down two-thirds of this anthology.
Romance	5/10 – Only one of them presented a romance that was remotely believable.
Characterization	6/10 – Shallow characterizations made it very hard to connect to two of the stories.
Entertainment value	5/10 – With two of the stories hard to take seriously, this leaves Lanyon leading the pack.
World building	7/10 – The best overall aspect, though the third story left a little to be desired.
TOTAL:	29/50

Snowball in Hell by Josh Lanyon

TITLE: Snowball in Hell
AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 37k)
GENRE: Historical gay romance
COST: $5.99

In 1943 Los Angeles, Lieutenant Mathew Spain has to find a murderer – the killer of rich boy Phil Arlen. Suspects and motives abound, but straightshooter Spain is only interested in the truth. When his path crosses with reporter Nathan Doyle, he is intrigued by the battle-scarred veteran, but it doesn’t take much digging to learn that the man who intrigues him so is at the top of his suspect list.

Though historicals aren’t my typical bag, I’m the first person to admit I love stories set from the 1920’s through the 1940’s. There’s just something about the desperation of the war to create a really stirring romance, or the grittiness of the noir detail, or the glamour of figures like Fred and Ginger, that really gets my blood pumping. This one had me hooked at the cover, and the blurb and excerpt only cemented it.

Thank goodness it didn’t suck. I always hate it when a book I’m really excited about doesn’t even come close to measuring up to my expectations.

This is not your typical romance. It’s not even sold as a romance on the website. They have it categorized as a mystery, which is probably more than fair. The vast bulk of the story is given to solving the mystery of Phil Arlen’s murder, but because there is a romance with consummation, I’m being difficult and classifying it as such. But the build-up is slow, wonderfully slow, with the first half of the book dedicated to getting to know the two leads and discovering facts about the murder more than anything else. It makes it very easy to connect with them as characters before they move on to the romantic aspects of the story.

While both characters are strong, I think Nathan, the reporter, is the stronger of the two. Mathew’s sexuality isn’t as fully explored prior to the romance, which makes it more difficult to believe that a widower would fall for a man. Nathan, on the other hand, is built with multiple layers – the scarred veteran returned from the war, the scarred young man half-convinced his homosexuality makes him a freak, the bored reporter who isn’t entirely sure how to keep himself occupied after the trauma of the war. It’s very easy to sympathize with him, especially with all the suspicion cast upon him in regards to the murder investigation. Characterization is done with a delicate touch, nothing that feels rushed or forced. It’s a sign of an author who knows what he’s doing.

The one thing I wish is that it was longer. Not through any fault of its own, it’s more than successful at its length. But the author is good enough and the characters interesting enough to carry a full-length novel. I have another Josh Lanyon book in my TBR pile that’s longer. I think, based on my opinion of this one, it’s getting bumped up. A new author for me to keep my eye out for.

Readability	8/10 – Some crisp writing and smart storytelling going on here.
Hero	8/10 – Solid and hugely believable, though I wasn’t completely sold on the bisexuality.
Hero #2	8/10 – Sympathetic and compelling.
Entertainment value	8/10 – I was probably expecting more romance in this, and I wished it was longer, but this works very, very well for what it is.
World building	9/10 – Great period detail helps to make this jump from the page.
TOTAL:	41/50

An Unholy Embrace by CJ England

TITLE: An Unholy Embrace
AUTHOR: CJ England
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 12k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $2.49

When Teran runs from an attack from some of the men in her village, she is rescued by Sebastian, a vampire who resides in the forest outside her home. He takes her home, where he becomes entranced by her, taking her as lover and more. Teran is touched by his protective instincts, but as soon as he breaks his promise not to invade her mind by enthralling her, she vows never to give in to him. Can there ever be trust so that they can go on?

Rape is always a touchy subject in romances. Though I remember a lot of them in the romances I read growing up, I was too young then to really appreciate the emotional impact of it, or the implications of such a violent act. It’s not done nearly as much anymore, at least not in the books I read, but I chose to buy this book anyway. The premise sounded mildly intriguing, and I hoped that it might be a touching dramatic story.

The story I actually got bordered on really bothering me. Sebastian has the capability of enthralling people, and he intends to do that to Teran to feed from her. But she’s a woman who needs to have control, and makes him promise not to do it. He agrees, he feeds, all is well with the world. Except for the fact that now he wants to do more than feed and he drank too much and Teran is passed out. So he waits until she wakes up to seduce her, but lo and behold, Teran is a virgin. So, because Sebastian doesn’t want to hurt her, he enthralls her in the middle of the act to take away the pain of losing her virginity. As soon as Teran realizes what he did, she announces she can’t trust him, won’t ever trust him, and will never give herself to him again. Sebastian is of the mind that her mouth says one thing, but her body says something else, and sets out to persuade her – over and over and over again – that she really does want him.

In essence, is Sebastian really all that different from the men who chased after her? He uses the excuse that her body is willing, but completely ignores how she feels about it. I think he’s a lot more like the would-be attackers than the author thinks, which makes it very difficult to read this story with much enjoyment. Add on to that unintentionally funny moments (well, to me, at least), like Sebastian standing on his porch screaming, “TERAN!!!” as Teran finally escapes – which smacks too much of Stanley Kowalski to me – and it doesn’t really have a chance.

The romance between these two is based purely on sex instead of anything else, and the author expects you to believe that this is enough for a HEA for these two. Unless you’re a fan of forced heroine fantasies, I say give this one a pass.

Readability	7/10 – There’s headhopping and melodrama, but some occasional lyrical phrasing kept me hopeful for more.
Hero	4/10 – There’s not enough for me to get a real good feel for him, and the alpha male tendencies – especially refusing to take no for an answer – aren’t well handled.
Heroine	4/10 – At least she’s got a backbone. But that’s really all she has.
Entertainment value	3/10 – The forced nature of the relationship is handled awkwardly, and some individual melodramatic moments had me giggling when I’m sure the author didn’t want me to.
World building	3/10 – Individual details are good, but there is very little I could tell you about this world they inhabit.
TOTAL:	21/50