Friday, April 23, 2010

Happy Gay Friday & What I've Read


Wow, it’s Friday again. Time for some man on man love! Yay!
Isn't this a hot looking couple? *sigh*

Before I forget, let me remind you of the giveaway of Sloan Parker’s M/M/M romance here at my place. You can still go to Sloan’s guest post on POV here, to enter, until Monday night. I also have an M/F giveaway going on here, until tomorrow night.

Then my M/M reads. The past weeks have been quite good, m/m reading wise. I’ve read a few shorts (Ratchet by Chris Owen & Jodi Payne from their Deviations series and the free story Pineapples & Chocolate by E.M. Lynley) and I’ve read books 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series by Ally Blue. Now I have only book 7 from this series left and I find myself postponing reading this one because I don’t want to feel desperate for the release of book 8 (which is not known to be written yet and may not be written at all).
I want to review the books from this series in a separate post in the near future. At least the first five books, which are all centered on Sam and Bo’s love story. The sixth book is telling, their friend and colleague, Dean’s story and the seventh will be about Bo’s son Adrian, so they can both be read (and reviewed) as a standalone.


Like I said I took a little break from Ally Blue’s BCPI series and I did that with two books from authors who weren’t new to me: L.B. Gregg and Shayla Kersten. I’ve enjoyed their work before and they are both on my auto-buy list.

First I read Happy Ending by L.B. Gregg for the DIK Reading Challenge. I have to write a longer review for that but here’s my first impression of this second book of the Men of Smithfield series:
The opening scene is memorable and hilarious. Overall this was an enjoyable read although I didn't laugh out loud as much as I did with L.B. Gregg's other books. Still, Seth made me chuckle quite a lot and he's a rather refreshing character, with his gruffness and direct, short responses. He and David are an unusual and somewhat odd couple - talk about opposites attract - but the author succeeded in making me believe in their pairing. I thought the story ended at a point that their relationship started to get interesting and I found myself wishing the book had at least 50 more pages. My rate: 3.5 stars.

Backblurb:
All Seth really wanted was a simple massage—was that too much to ask? When his usual therapist is replaced by a sexy young masseur, Seth finds himself obsessed with the unpredictable - and wholly inappropriate - David Cooke. Pushed to the breaking point by forces both mysterious and not so mysterious, Seth must lose his rigid control to find the happy ending both he and David deserve.

Second I read Icing on the Cake by Shayla Kersten. My thoughts:
Although this is only 48 pages I really enjoyed this story! Okay, I wouldn't mind if it had been twice or three times as long, because that had probably satisfied my curiosity about this deliciously sexy couple. Jeff and Ollie are such interesting characters that I want to know more about them. Together they are incredibly hot. Jeff is a closeted, conservative, big shot business man and Ollie is a bold, tattooed and pierced biker kind of guy who bakes cakes for a living, and is very successful at that. Their attraction is an unlikely one but made very believable and tangible. They do a lot of hot stuff with icing and other food. And they rock each other's world very convincingly! I rate this with 4 stars.

Backblurb:
Jeff Morgan’s life is all about career. Relationships aren’t on his radar. His friendships are limited to a very few and his sex life consists of wham-bam-thank-you-man sexual encounters. He doesn’t do long term. He doesn’t even do breakfast.
Then the fate of a cake brings Ollie Cranford into his life. Shaved head, tats and piercings, the baker is far from Jeff’s type, but Ollie is as luscious as the treats he whips up in his bakery.
Now if only Jeff can relax long enough to enjoy the icing on the beefcake.

I also wanted to let you know that there's a wonderful post at Jessewave’s blog today about coming out that includes contributions from Ethan Day, Rick Reed, Sean Kennedy, John, Christian Otto, Batboy 126 and Ozakie Knotts. The contributions give a glimpse of the lives and personal experiences of these gay men who talk about “coming out” or choosing to remain in the closet.

Have a Happy Gay Friday!

10 comments:

  1. Wave's post and the coming out stories were wonderful, weren't they? SO powerful.

    Did you pick up the free short "Snow Plowed" that takes place after the 7th BCPI book? *rummages around for link* Oh, and there are some other BCPI shorts, too.

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  2. I was just reading Wave's post - so touching. I emailed myself the link to read at home.

    Happy Friday *winks* yeah I know what I'll be reading tonight.

    PS Just finished Almost Like Being In Love By Steve Kluger really interesting style. Have you read this one before (and yes too lazy to check your GR shelf ;)

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  3. @Chris: It was very powerful!
    Oh thanks for the link! I didn't know about them, very good news! Now I can read book 7 and still have something to look forward too! :) For things like this (among others) I'm so happy to have you in my life :D

    @KC: I downloaded Wave's pdf to read it on my ereader, it's very touching indeed!
    Yep, it's Friday night, man love night :) Do you already have a concrete book waiting for you?
    I haven't read the Steve Kluger book. To be honest I haven't heard of that author before. Chris never mentioned him to me as far as I can remember ;) Can you recommend it?

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  4. Happy Friday! Looks like you had some great reads this week!

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  5. Aw, thanks! And you're welcome! Hey, I can't seem to help that my brain stores all sorts of random tidbits (when I can't remember what I was doing 5 minutes ago), so glad I can share that with people. :D

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  6. Wow, busy reading week. For some reason I stalled out on BCPI, but I'll get back to it. I've read Dean's and Adrian's stories already so I'm ahead of the game there.

    I must get that Shayla Kersten book, I've just been avoiding EC. Blah. Have a super weekend.

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  7. @Heather: Thanks sweetie! You too :)

    @Chris: LOL, your weird brain comes in so handy ;)

    @Tam: I've heard some complaints about EC before and I'm wondering why you're avoiding it. I don't have troubles buying there...
    Have a great weekend as well!

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  8. Looks like you had a great reading week.

    I've only read the first book in LB's series although I've got the other two in my TBR. I just bought Icing On the Cake and I'm looking forward to reading that one.

    The post today at Wave's was wonderful. I was very moved by the stories.

    I really liked Almost Like Being In Love. It's a different style than what I'm used to and I think you'd like it as well.

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  9. Thank you Janna! I love the photos and the books sound good. I must be an idiot for not having read the Smithfield books yet!

    *off to read Jessewave's post*

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  10. @Lily: I look forward to your thoughts on Icing on the Cake!
    I'm going to check out Almost Like Being in Love. You made me curious :)

    @orannia: Lol, you're not an idiot! Only if you don't read them soon ;)

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