With love from…

I’m sure no one will notice the difference ;) but I’ll be away from my blog and the blogverse for the next couple of weeks.
Hubs and I are flying to Seattle tomorrow where we’ll hop on a boat (a very big one) to Alaska, for our summer vacation. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this trip! :)
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post some pictures or stories during those weeks or if we will be too busy walking glaciers, spotting orcas, discovering wildlife or doing a photo safari *g*. But I’ll do my best to find some time to blog or tweet.

Hope you’ll have a good time too! Till later! :D

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Guest Review: Getting Off The Ground by L.A. Witt

I'm pleased and very happy that Sharon has decided to give her m/m related stuff a home at my place. Every now and then she'll share her thoughts about the m/m books she reads, here at Rarely Dusty Books. Sharon is also a reviewer at I Smell Sheep and LoveRomancePassion, where she -of all topics- posted about 'reviewer burnout' the other day, lol!
Anyway, here's her first review for RDB:

L.A. Witt
Getting Off The Ground
Amber Allure, 2011

Backblurb:
After being stood up at the altar, compulsive over-planner Elliott Chandler decides to turn a honeymoon on Oahu into a vacation for one. Fate puts a hitch in his plans, however, when the airport is snowed in and his flight is delayed.

In the airport, the jilted groom catches the eye of another stranded traveler—the laidback and very sexy Derek Windsor. Derek breaks the ice and strikes up a conversation, and as the temperature drops outside, the heat between them rises. Pity they’re both going to different islands, but if their flight doesn’t leave soon, Mr. Calm-and-Cool may just tempt Mr. Play-It-Safe to do something reckless.

And that plane isn’t going anywhere any time soon...

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Contemporary, Vacation, Jilted lover (left at the altar), Love at first sight, Airport

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3 flames
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Guest review by SharonS.:


This novella (86 pages) is part one of the Changing Plans series. The story is told in the first person POV of Elliot. He likes to have everything planned out. Any deviation from said plan causes him anxiety. So when his lover of 6 years stands him up at the altar, he decides to do something impulsive. Take the Hawaiian honeymoon any way, but a snowstorm strands him at the airport. Elliot is about to come unglued, when he notices another passenger who looks relaxed and unbothered by the delay. Elliot finds this irritating, but can’t seem to stop looking at him.

Derek is in Seattle visiting family and waiting to fly back to his home on Maui. Not much bothers him. He has never been in love, and doesn’t want to. He is perfectly happy to flirt his way into someone’s bed for one night. He likes his freedom and control over his life.

They couldn’t be more different on their approach to life and love. This is what draws them together. There is an instant attraction. Poor Elliot! I enjoyed listening to his thoughts as he talks with Derek. It is quite funny and endearing. When the flight is cancelled, they act like two teenagers that can’t wait to find a hotel room, which they do ;)

This is a charming and sensual story. Do you remember what it was like to meet someone and have that instant infatuation? All you can think about is what it would be like to kiss them and there is that fluttery feeling in your stomach every time you think about it. When you finally do kiss, you can’t get enough . Witt does an excellent job of communicating that type of chemistry between Derek and Elliot. I could feel the flutters in my stomach (hubba, hubba) .

My favorite part of this story was the emphasis put on all the deep, passionate, playful and flirty kissing. Don’t worry, there is some hot sex too . What was supposed to be a one night stand begins to have many possibilities when Derek offers to let Elliot spend his two week vacation at his place.

The story ends with them heading to Hawaii. I am dying to know how this is going to turn out. What will Elliot do as he starts to fall for Derek, because you know he will. How will Derek react to feelings he didn’t think he could experience. Luckily their story continues with book 2, Infinity Pools.

This is one of my favorite passages. The moment when Derek and Elliot realize this was something…more:

Our circumstances were what they were. I lived here, Derek
lived there. I didn’t believe in love at first sight. He didn’t really
believe in love at all. This was a one-night stand, two ships passing
in the night, nothing more. But, I caught myself thinking as I
looked at him now, I didn’t want it to be. The sex was incredible,
but I wanted to know him. Standing in his arms like this, I didn’t
want to never see him again.
He ran the pad of his thumb over my cheekbone, and there was
something unspoken in his expression. Mr. Calm and Cool’s brow
furrowed imperceptibly. His lips tightened like he was on the verge
of either speaking or letting a thought go and pretending it had
never crossed his mind.
Then he took a breath. Paused.
Whatever he wanted to say, he let it go and kissed me again.
And nothing about his kiss said this was a one-night stand.

(excuse me while I take a minute to swoon ;)

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Check out L.A. Witt’s website
Buy Getting of the Ground here

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Happy Gay Friday Quickie

Just popping in and out to let you know that we bought a house today!!! Woohoo! After more than two weeks of stressing about it! It actually took that long to finally come to an agreement, but thank heavens we don’t have to go through another weekend of waiting. It was maddening, lol!

The house we bought is a characteristic, old house in the historical city centre of Utrecht. The houses in the street originate from the Middle Ages – there’s an old city castle from 1467 right across the street – and no traffic is allowed there. After a big fire in 1903 most of the buildings were (partly) reconstructed and in the years after that our house has been renovated and modernized of course. We do have running water and central heating, don’t worry. ;)

If nothing weird happens, we’re going to move there in August. *big, big happy sigh*

Meanwhile I’ve been neglecting all the blogs I love to read and I’ve been rarely and very irregularly on Twitter and Goodreads. I feel horrible about that, while at the same time I can’t even promise that it’ll get better soon. Because it probably won’t… with everything we have to start doing now to organize The Move. OMG, I’m getting stressed all over again just thinking about it. *g* But at least now we know that we don’t have to live under a bridge in a cardboard box when we come back from our vacation. ;)

Thanks so much for all your positive thoughts and good wishes from the past weeks. I believe they helped. :)

Happy Gay Friday everyone!

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