Review: Anthology His For The Holidays

His For The Holidays

L.B. Gregg, Harper Fox, Z.A. Maxfield and Josh Lanyon

Carina Press, 2010

Buy link

This was a fabulous anthology with four Christmas themed stories from four great authors. As a collection I would rate it with 5 stars, because each of the separate stories is worth the buy. Here's my take on each of them.


Mistletoe at Midnight
LB Gregg

5 out of 5 stars

This is a perfect holiday story! It has a fabulous love couple, some sort of Christmas miracle, an intriguing narrator's voice, this author's distinctive humor and an engaging plot.
Owen is the narrator of the story. He is a vet and he and his dog arrive late for the Christmas get-together of his family at an inn in Vermont. At arrival he discovers that his first love, Caleb, is also staying at the inn. And to make things even more complicated, his mother has invited his last ex-boyfriend, Keith, as well. Through short flashbacks Owen and Caleb's shared history is revealed and it's obvious that they are each other's 'one that got away'.
During the first part of the story, also a lot is revealed in the conversations, which are - in combination with Owen's thoughts on them - a delight to read. But so is the 'action' that follows. A constant factor throughout the story remains Owen's ability to make and phrase his observations that never fail to make me snort. A few examples:

“I had a type, and now everyone in the entryway knew it, including me. I was suddenly very glad to be blending in to the wallpaper.”

“His briefs lovingly cupped his crotch. I didn’t even pretend I wasn’t looking because, by God, he wasn’t as shriveled from the aftereffects of hypothermia as one might expect. He was gorgeous.”

“My mother clapped her hands and stood. Today’s holiday sweater was a fully decorated Christmas tree with tiny silver jingle bells and more blinking lights. She must wear a battery pack in her bra.”

Everything comes together nicely in the end and the happy ending is very satisfying. Not merely because of the great and hot smexing, but also due to the sweet exchange of Secret Santa gifts. This is a story that I've read in one breath and that I didn't want to finish so I could enjoy these heroes a bit longer.


Nine Lights over Edinburgh
Harper Fox

4.5 out of 5 stars

This author’s writing style is different from most authors’ I know of. It’s elaborate, descriptive - some will call it verbose - and expressive. I think you’ll love it or hate it. I happen to enjoy it once I surrender to it. Harper Fox’s writing has the ability to take me to the places she describes. In this story those are the dark alleys and obscure corners of the streets of Edinburgh. The colorful descriptions of the surroundings emphasize the main character’s gloomy and damaged soul. James is a detective inspector with the Scottish police, divorced since one year from his wife with whom he has a young daughter. He’s doing dangerous undercover work on his own, drinks too much and has to deal with a new, unkind Chief. She is trying to bring him down and five days before Christmas it appears she succeeded. James reluctantly agrees to do what she wants, a security job for the visiting Israeli ambassador. On that job he meets Toby, a Mossad agent to whom he feels instantly attracted. When Toby takes a bullet for him when things go awry their fate is sealed. After that a whole series of suspenseful events happen and Harper Fox makes us feel the drama, the attraction and the hope.
I loved the careful way the author portrayed her heroes and their blooming relationship. I loved how she made the hope for better times tangible. And I enjoyed her plotting inventiveness. But there’s one thing I found hard to grasp: that all these events happened in such a short period of time (five days). I’m not talking about instant love per se but more about the suspense elements. Like Toby leaving the hospital after one day after taking a bullet up the shoulder and subsequently skipping a night’s sleep and going into full action to take a kidnapper down. I mean, is he made of steel? Alas, this story needs a little suspension of disbelief I reckon. But other than that, I fully enjoyed this story, which was the least Christmas-spirited of the collection of four from the His for the Holidays anthology.

Favorite quote:

“From his position on the bench, struggling with his shoelaces, McBride could see parts of his colleagues seldom exposed in cultures that did not include a skirt in their national dress. He repressed a smile. It was enough to put a man off. And that would be grand, wouldn’t it—cure him, straighten him out and send him home to Libby with a hard-on.”

I Heard Him Exclaim
Z.A. Maxfield

4.5 out of 5 stars

In I Heard Him Exclaim we’re treated at Christmas in all its glory, with the commercial bells and whistles (and lights) to match. Main character Steve’s family is completely nuts when it comes to Christmas: they decorate their houses outrageously and they live for the festivities. Steve himself used to be equally nuts, and he liked to play the part of Santa, but not this year. He is not in the spirit because he is no longer filling out the Santa suite after a heart operation early that year. He decides to go to Las Vegas to escape the festivities, but on his way there he meets Chandler, who just inherited guardianship of his five-year-old niece, Poppy. The two of them can use Steve’s help after their car broke down and their holiday plans got canceled, so Steve decides to take them home. There he and Chandler work together to give Poppy a wonderful Christmas while they feel more and more attracted to each other.
I have to admit that I had a little trouble with getting the image of Steve as an old, wrinkly Santa out of my head after the first descriptions of his physical features. I’m not a big fan of the May-December theme where the age difference between the characters nears the parent-child gap. So, to make this story work for me, I had to make Steve a bit younger and more attractive in my head than the author probably had meant him to be. But apart from that, their love story was easy to enjoy. I loved Chandler and his feelings towards his niece and I found Steve’s observational skills regarding Chandler very engaging and sweet. And their smexy moments were certainly sizzling hot and entertaining in their variety. The author succeeded in conveying that Steve and Chandler are so right for each other, even if they only met a couple of days ago. Overall this was a well-written, enjoyable, festive love story with a touch of seriousness and a lot of smiles in it.

Favorite quote:

“[…] men came in two different flavors, and one of those flavors could fix cars. The other, the group to which he belonged, were utterly useless without a cup of coffee in one hand and a computer mouse in the other. He looked under the hood of the car and felt like the apes at the beginning.”

Icecapade
Josh Lanyon

4.75 out of 5 stars

I think I lost my heart to Noel! He’s one of those characters that I will remember for a long time. And his Robbie is one hell of a sexy opponent. This is such a loveable and memorable couple. And they play their parts wonderfully in an amusing, well-paced plot, which is nevertheless way too modest and short. I’m of the opinion that their relationship could’ve used a couple of (or rather a lot) more pages. I was just about getting settled into the story when it already ended… Icecapade is probably the shortest story in the His for the Holidays anthology which is to my regret.
Alas, the story that we did get though, was very satisfying. Noel is a former cat burglar and now a novelist living a quiet life with his horses. Robert Cuffe is the FBI agent who has been on his tail for years and with whom he spent a hot, memorable night nearly eleven years ago. They haven’t seen or spoken each other since then. Until now. Suddenly Robert rings Noel’s doorbell the day before Christmas, allegedly investigating a new series of burglaries even though Noel retired over a decade ago. The men spend some time together, talking about the past, Noel’s morals and more sexy things, meanwhile helping several of Noel’s neighbors out with their problems, like saving a baby llama from a crevice it fell into.
As with other books of Josh Lanyon I loved the narrator’s voice, this time in third person and from Noel’s point of view:

“What a day. He still hadn’t showered or shaved. No wonder Robert was keeping him at arm’s distance—and he hadn’t even started fooling around with llamas yet.”

“The cab smelled like llama and wet dog. At least, that’s what Noel hoped it smelled like. Hopefully his lack of grooming wasn’t catching up with him.”

This story had a few of those chuckle moments as well as some pretty sexy ones. Like the opening scene in which the actual sex scene already took place. Although we don’t even witness the actual smexing, I remember this scene as being sexy as hell. Later in the book we are invited into the bedroom at the right moment, thank goodness. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that! This couple’s chemistry is hot, tangible and fabulously described and their developing relationship is unique and unforgettable thanks to the fetching plot it’s wrapped in.
~

Review: Dudleytown by L.B. Gregg

L.B. Gregg
Dudleytown
Aspen Mountain Press, 2010

Backblurb:
College sophomore Alexander Strauss has one rule: no messing around with straight guys. Especially not his mouthwatering roommate, Shannon. When their ride share drives off the side of a mountain, the two young men find themselves deep in an uninhabited forest searching for their missing friend. Wandering the famously cursed grounds of Dudleytown, Alex figures something truly unholy must be at play, because only insanity could tempt him to break his cardinal rule.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M, Contemporary, Roommates, Suspense, Halloween, Movies

~~~~~
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3 flames
~~~~~

Why I read it:
I received a review copy from the author

I can keep this short: Dudleytown is a joy to read. There’s not much I didn’t enjoy about this sexy, suspenseful Halloween story. I just loved it!

Okay, I’ll tell you a little bit more, but not too much because you definitely have to read it yourself to learn more about it.
The plot is cleverly simple but strong. Three friends are on their way home when they get in an accident in the middle of a dark forest, tumbling down the mountain. One of them has a head injury and gets lost. The other two, Alex and Shannon, go after their friend, trying to find him. Alex and Shannon are roommates and Alex has a crush on Shannon who he assumes is straight. While looking for their friend and dealing with some mysterious events, Alex and Shannon find themselves in some intimate (and scary) situations. The plot is building to a wonderful climax, on more than one level.

Alex is the narrator of his and Shannon’s adventures and his voice is another one of those great LB Gregg voices I adore; it’s funny, ironic and sharp. And full of self-mockery.
Each one of LB’s narrators has his own quirk and Alex’s is his unbelievably broad knowledge of cheesy (horror) movie titles and his 'talent' to compare almost everything he's witnessing with one of these movies. It’s bringing a light, humorous touch into the suspense arc, which makes Dudleytown a fabulous balance between comedy, thriller, drama and erotic romance. For the latter elements Shannon is playing his part wonderfully. He and Alex are a hot couple, not only when hiding in a pot hole under nerve wracking circumstances but also when sharing a sweet, sexy shower.

Before I spoil more I better let you pick it up yourself. It’ll be worth your money, especially when you’re already a fan of LB Gregg’s humor. There was only one thing I didn’t enjoy very much about this novella and that was its length. The (early but otherwise perfect) ending prevented me from being with these characters a little bit longer and left me wondering what would happen to them after the story. And that is a sign of a good book.

Linking:
L.B. Gregg’s website | weblog | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Buy Dudleytown here

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We have some winners!

.
Thank you all for leaving your comments and entering last week's giveaways. I loved reading every single one of your comments!
Also a warm thank you to the awesome authors Shayla Kersten, Kele Moon, Stacey Espino and L.B. Gregg for donating the copies of their books for the contests!

And now the moment you've been waiting for: the announcement of the winners! Here they are:

The winner of Stacey Espino’s Fearless Desire is:

Estella

The winner of Shayla Kersten’s River of Need is:

Fiction Vixen

The winner of Kele Moon’s Beyond Eden is:

Diana (Book of Secrets)

The winner of LB Gregg’s Dudleytown is:

Devon Rhodes

Congrats to you all! I'll email you to confirm your addresses, after which the authors will send you each your copy directly.

Happy Monday!

Release Day & Giveaway of Dudleytown by LB Gregg

Have you ever read one of LB Gregg’s m/m romances? If you have, you’ll know that she’s a wonderful writer with a masterful sense of humor. If you haven’t, you must ask yourself in all sincerity: why not?!
She never fails to make me laugh out loud while she tells her engaging stories about men falling in love, doing the dirty and sexy, while mocking themselves.

Today a new, standalone book by this author is released: Dudleytown! Yay!
And LB Gregg kindly offered to give away an ecopy to one of my readers! Double Yay!
What’s this book about you ask?

Here’s the backblurb of Dudleytown:

College sophomore Alexander Strauss has one rule: no messing around with straight guys. Especially not his mouthwatering roommate, Shannon. When their ride share drives off the side of a mountain, the two young men find themselves deep in an uninhabited forest searching for their missing friend. Wandering the famously cursed grounds of Dudleytown, Alex figures something truly unholy must be at play, because only insanity could tempt him to break his cardinal rule.

It’s a sexy, suspenseful Halloween story and I just loved it! Alex is the narrator of his and Shannon’s adventures and his voice is another one of those great LB Gregg voices I adore; it’s funny, ironic and sharp. And full of self-mockery. Every one of LB’s narrators has his own quirk and Alex’s is his freakingly broad knowledge of (horror) movie titles and his 'talent' to compare almost everything he's witnessing with one of them.

Of course you have to read it all but here’s a little snippet that shows something of his train of thoughts:

“
Light flared. Even so, I couldn’t see a goddamn thing other than a weird chiaroscuro of white headlight and black earth. We were both flat on my stomach in a gaping grave.
I was lying in a fresh grave.
Oh shit. Someone dug this hole for us, I knew it. We were going to be buried alive.
Please, please let this be my over active imagination running wild again.
I lurched, scrambling to flee fast and far, but Shannon grabbed my hip. “Hold still. It’s too shallow for me to move. We’re in a sinkhole of some kind—remember? Ricky told us this. It’s okay. Just be still.”
His weight held me—and his words calmed me. I nodded into the dirt and tried like hell to keep it together. I panted into the freezing loam and robbed heat from Shannon, who radiated virility and clear-headedness. His presence eased my lingering anger and soothed my irrational fear of the dark—and my certainty that we were about to reenact another B-grade classic—Buried Alive.
At least we hadn’t landed on a corpse or in a vacant coffin, right? Just a filthy trench of some sort that was in no way, shape or form a grave. No zombies here. No vampires or claw-toed werewolves…this wasn’t a cemetery.
It was just a haunted ghost town.
No worries.
I spat leaves and Shannon held me closer. “Quiet.”
“Why?” I whispered. “It’s a car. It’s not like they can hear us.”
“I don’t know. I feel like it’s imperative that we should be quiet. So shut up.” That was reason enough. He had superior hearing and amazing athletic prowess. He was the bruising outdoorsman; I was skinny and small and here in case of an emergency, so I did as he said.
Shannon’s breath huffed softly against my skin. His eyes in shadow, he searched my face. His stare strayed to my mouth. “You good?”
The temperature inside our cramped space went from freezing to sizzling. He shifted a millimeter forward, his hips rolled into my ass, and a charge of electricity snapped between us like a match lighting tinder. Fire whooshed through my limbs.
I’d pined for him for weeks and the reality of Shannon…mounting me, because there was no other word for this, well, it might finally be too much. He settled between my spread thighs and this wasn’t my imagination—it was erotic.
No. It was fucking hot.
”

Want to know how this scene continues? Well, I can tell you it is getting hotter… but you can read it yourself if you win this book!

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Giveaway:

LB Gregg has generously offered an ebook copy of Dudleytown to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. I much appreciate it when you follow my blog (via Google connect in my sidebar), but I leave that up to you. :)

This giveaway is open to everyone, I will announce the winner on Monday, November 1, so be sure to leave your comment before that and don’t forget to check back then or leave a way for me to contact you in your comment or profile.

Good luck to you all!

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Linking:
LB Gregg’s website | weblog | on Goodreads | on Twitter | on Facebook

Buy Dudleytown here
Read an excerpt of Dudleytown here

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Running Giveaways:

Tuesday: Fearless Desire by Stacey Espino
Wednesday: River of Need by Shayla Kersten
Thursday: Beyond Eden by Kele Moon
Friday: Dudleytown by L.B. Gregg

All giveaways run until next Monday, when I’ll announce the four winners.
~

Happy Gay Friday & Some Blog and Book Stuff

Friday night! Yay! This Friday flew by and I can hardly recall what I’ve done today. Which makes it pretty perfect imo. :)

I know it started with me staying in bed too long while finishing the novella The One that Got Away by T.C. Blue. It’s the first of four books in the One and One series and was a cute Friends to Lovers m/m story. Although it took the protags a little bit long to realize their love for each other (which made me want to smack them both at different times), I still enjoyed their story quite a bit. It was the first book I read by this author and I liked her writing style, it felt as if being in the heads of the heroes, alternately. When this is done well, it’s my favorite type of narrative. And T.C. Blue did it just right, switching to the other POV in time, without being it too fast. So, it was a 4 stars read for me!

~
Fairly recently, I found out about the upcoming release of a new book of one of my favorite authors, scheduled for October 27th: River of Need by Shayla Kersten. And also coming out this month (the 29th) is Dudleytown by LB Gregg, another one I’ll be jonesing for.

~

Did you notice yesterday’s guest review? The reviewer is Lis, another Dutch girl with whom I only recently ‘connected’. I’d seen her commenting at Wave’s blog before (as Larissa) but never realized how much we had in common and I’m so glad I invited her over to my blog to do a guest review. I loved her review and I’m proud to say that she will come back more often. I have Blodeuedd to thank for ‘introducing’ me to Lis with this review she wrote for B’s blog. Lis introduced herself there as an “incredibly chaotic, sword wielding cowgirl from Holland who lives and breathes books of the supernatural & paranormal variety stirred with some romantic, erotic and mystery and or historic ingredients.” Especially the sword wielding part piqued my curiosity (read yesterday’s review to learn more about that ;)). And she loves the m/m genre as much as I do! I really hope she’ll keep expressing her love for books with guest posts at my place and that you’ll like that too.

~

Speaking of connecting with fellow Dutch smut lovers… Bloggy friend Leontine and I are planning another real life meeting later this month. We’re going to have a High Tea in Utrecht at this cute little place near one of the canals:

I already look forward to hours of talking about books and blog stuff with Leontine while eating the most delicious sweet things and drinking tea. Wanna join us? :)

It’s bed time for me now…

Happy Gay Friday!

~

Review of Happy Ending by L.B. Gregg for the DIK Book Reading Challenge

L.B. Gregg
Happy Ending (Men of Smithfield, #2)
Aspen Mountain Press | April, 2009 | ISBN 978-1-60168-203-1 | 137 pages

Genre & Keywords: M/M, Contemporary, Suspense, (Step)fatherhood

Rating: êêê½
Heat level: ¹¹½

The Back Blurb:
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.

I’ve read this book for the DIK Book Reading Challenge.

This is the second book of this author’s Men of Smithfield series. I’ve read the first one too, Gobsmacked, but these books can all be read as standalones. The third book is Cover Me. And the fourth, In and Out, will be released in May. Besides the two MoS books I’ve also read L.B. Gregg’s latest, Catch Me if You Can. Between these three books and her blog Nose in a Book it’s safe for me to say that I really like her sense of humor. This is an author who can make me laugh out loud with her way with words! A lot!

That being said, I have to admit that Happy Ending didn't make me laugh out loud as much as the other books did. Still, Seth made me chuckle quite a lot and he's a rather refreshing character, with his gruffness and direct, short responses. And the opening scene is memorable and hilarious. Seth and David meet each other when Seth comes in for his weekly massage and David is the replacement for his usual massage therapist. The massage turns out to be a bit too much for Seth, who can’t help himself feeling attracted to the young, somewhat weird David. It’s not so much what happens that makes this a great scene, although you’ll never forget about the poor massage table ever, ahum, but it’s Seth’s view on things and his thoughts that adds a special touch to the scene. To give you an idea of his grumpy, self-assessing ‘voice’, here he is, waiting for his massage therapist, Linda:

It reeked of lavender. Why did everything in the goddamn room have to stink of it? I opened my mouth to breathe. I always meant to complain about the smell, but by the time Linda was through working out the kinks in my back it didn't seem that important. It shouldn't seem important now. This was yet another indication that I was stressed out and irritated.
Irritated that it was currently 2:05 and still no sign of Linda.
The music was getting to me. Who would choose this shit? Birds warbled over Celtic fiddles and bagpipes and penny whistles and—holy hell, it was giving me a tension headache. A little Dave Matthews would have been appreciated. I was tired and tense and whining to myself. Even I didn't like me right now.

Seth and David's first encounter doesn’t end in a friendly way and when they meet again I have a hard time picturing them together, also as a result of Seth’s twisted thoughts about David which oscillate from attraction to repulsion. What David thinks is a mystery but apparently he sees something in Seth. And before the night is over they end up in a dark alley having some fun together. Seth and David are an unusual and somewhat odd couple - talk about opposites attract - but eventually the author succeeded in making me believe in their pairing. Although I thought that the story ended at a point their relationship started to get interesting. And I found myself wishing the book had at least 50 more pages to see a little bit more of them as a couple. By then the non-romantic storyline, which was also part of this book, was wound up and imo that would’ve been the perfect moment to focus more on their feelings for each other. Ah well.

About that non-romantic storyline: I don’t want to reveal too much of this, because it’ll spoil your reading pleasure if you haven’t read the book yet. But there’re a dandy ex-boyfriend, some sneakily taken, compromising pictures, a threat from a loser dad, some secrets about fatherhood and a kidnapping, involved. All these elements bring some suspense and tension to the story that I didn’t get much from the evolving love story, to be honest. They gave Happy Ending a fast-paced plot with some good twists. That and the presence of Molly in Seth’s life - his, motherless niece that he describes as ‘a stout moppet with hair as thick and auburn as mine and eyes the color of copper’ - were the highlights of this story for me. I also enjoyed Seth and David as characters and a couple, but not as much as I wished to, because I feel I don’t know them well enough.

Nonetheless, Happy Ending was an enjoyable read for me that I’ll recommend to anyone who likes a fun, fast-paced, sexy quick read or who’s a fan, like me, of this author’s sense of humor and witty writing.

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!

Happy Gay Friday & Some award, reading and world news

This week went by in a bit of a blur. It was a week of waiting, tears, cuddling and self-pity until this morning the results from the vet’s examination came, which we had been waiting for since Monday.
Nothing new, no miracle for Binny, sigh. We still have the choice to go and try some pain medication with the risk that his kidneys get worse, but with our minds we already know that this is not the best choice for Binny. He won’t get better, we’ll only stretch his suffering. But with our hearts we’re not completely there yet. We have this weekend to think about the options and to enjoy his company and presence as much as we can, probably for the last time.

Because of all this I have been neglecting my blog hopping a little bit. I tried to keep up but every time I looked at my blogroll I couldn’t believe there were new posts already that I hadn’t seen yet. And I lurked a little bit more than usual because I couldn’t always find the inspiration to leave a comment. Sorry for that, and for it to continue for another week or so, probably.
Despite of this you were all so kind to leave me a lot of comments at my blog, which I really enjoyed! Thank you all for that!

Let’s keep focusing on the positive :) I’m really grateful for the blog awards I got this week! There’s one I haven’t mentioned yet. I got the Gnome Approved Sexy Blog award from Patti yesterday. Thanks so much Patti! It comes with no rules but I want to pass it on to one sexy writer and one sexy reader:

Bronwyn Green
and
Leontine

They are both very dear to me and absolutely sexy writers and bloggers! This is the sexy award:

Isn’t it gorgeous? You gotta love gnomes!

Some Happy Gay news I woke up to this morning was coming from Mexico. Five same-sex couples have made history in Mexico City as they wed under Latin America's first law that explicitly approves gay marriage. I think that's wonderful. Coming from a country where gay marriage is legal for a long time now – I think we were one of the first countries with this law – I’m always very happy when there’s a new place in the world where equality wins.

Last but not least, my reading week! That didn’t go well… I’ve finished Conquest from S.J. Frost a week ago and meant to post a review this week about it, but I couldn’t concentrate on writing one. I hope I will be able soon because it was a wonderful read, with some highs and some lows I want to share with you.

Last weekend I started reading L.B. Gregg’s Catch Me If You Can and although it was a great book I couldn’t bring myself to read more than a few pages every day. Last night I turned in early with the intention to finally finish it. I didn’t quite succeed, but I did this morning. And it was a good book to help me lift my mood :) It’s hilarious, witty and sexy. I loved it! So far I haven’t heard anyone who didn’t and now I know why. I can highly recommend this M/M romantic suspense story. It was almost over the top comical, with the characters all showing up one after the other in several scenes and with doors swinging open and slamming closed when someone entered. In Dutch we have a word for this kind of stage play (in theaters), it’s called a ‘klucht’. I don’t know what the English word for that is, but it’s probably something like a farce or stand-up comedy. At times this book reminded me of that genre. It was delicious! And let's not forget hot!

Review of Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg

L.B. Gregg
Gobsmacked (Men of Smithfield, #1)
Aspen Mountain Press, February 2009

Genre & Keywords: Gay, M/M, One Hot Cop, Betrayal

Rating: êêêê½
Heat level: ¹¹½

The Back Blurb:
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Mild mannered Mark Meehan’s good judgment flies out the window when he finds his lover banging another man. Things go from bad to worse as Mark’s crazy revenge scheme uncovers shocking secrets—sending him straight into the arms of hunky lawman and old friend, Tony Gervase, a man of limited patience and secrets of his own.

This is the first of three books in The Men of Smithfield series. The other two are Happy Ending and Cover Me and both are on my TBR pile impatiently waiting to be read, because they know I badly want to.

Seriously, Gobsmacked was a delicious read! I obviously enjoyed it for the sweet romance and hot love scenes between cuties Mark and Tony, but even more for the highly entertaining, diverting voice with which this story was told. The voice is Mark’s, the story is told in the first person. Not a POV I normally prefer because it easily gets boring and annoying to miss the thoughts of the other characters. And I admit that in this case I missed Tony’s thoughts as well, very much so. But that little disappointment was compensated by the very amusing thoughts of Mark. It never got boring at all and some scenes were downright hilarious thanks to his voice. In previous posts I gave a few examples which I’ll recollect first:

On December 8th I wrote:

This morning, before work, I started reading Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg and I can't wait to get back to that story. I loved the first chapter where the hero smacked his cheating lover on the head in church 'in front of God and everyone' LOL! Here's the description of that scene:

“My hands clenched the book rack, and my fingers brushed against the Bible proudly displayed there. Staring at Jamie's once sweet curls hugging his rough jaw, I slid the good book out of its safe haven. The cracked leather was worn, but its bulk reassuring. Encouraging, even. So I hauled back, fueled by boiling rage, and gobsmacked that bastard as hard as I could in front of God and everyone. The Bible hit the back of Jamie's head with a resounding Thwack!”

Priceless isn't it?

And on December 11th:

I posted some tid bits earlier and Mandi 'warned' me for a ‘cereal stuck to butt’ scene :) which I anticipated a lot! And indeed... it had me laughing out loud and it kept me chuckling for many minutes. Until the hot sex exploded from the pages... I plan to write a review about this first book in the Men of Smithfield series later, but for now I can tell that I'm very glad to have this book recommended to me! It's witty, sexy and has lovely characters!

Now, about that cereal stuck to the butt scene, it’s as memorable as the thwack to the head scene. I anticipated it a lot, so when I read at page 112:

“My naked ass crunched down on a few stray puffs of breakfast cereal. Tony stepped between my knees, his pants half down his legs, his face hungry. Those deep brown eyes searched mine. I gripped his arms, his back, his neck; anywhere I could reach him.”

I rushed through the sentences. And yes, at page 113 the lube has to be retrieved from the other room and then I was treated at these thoughts when Mark walks out of the kitchen to go get it:

“I hated walking out with my bare ass jiggling, crushed cereal bits falling to the floor. Still, it was a nice ass. I'd sweep the floor tomorrow.”

These are a good example of his hilarious and entertaining voice. Are you loving it already? Alright I give you one more example. This one is when Mark’s ex comes after him:

“I looked around for a weapon, throwing drawers open. I wouldn't dream of holding a knife, he was far bigger than I and had a long reach. Plus this wasn't West Side freaking Story; I had no clue what to do with a knife except to cut meat and tighten the screw on the toilet seat. The only knife I owned was a pen knife on my key chain.” (page 64)

Gobsmacked is more than a funny story, it had a pretty good suspense thread as well. It involved Mark’s cheating ex Jamie and his problems – a storyline with some unexpected twists to it. Again, as a reader, you’re kept in the dark about Jamie’s motives and thoughts and you’re solely dependent on Mark’s interpretation of the occurrences and the people around him. It makes you wonder about a thing or two and all you want to do is keep reading to find out if things are as they seem to be.

Besides humor and suspense Gobsmacked has hot lovin’! Tony and Mark are a sexy couple. They have a history of teenage crushes but never acted on their feelings. Mark lived under the assumption that Tony didn’t return his feelings, what Tony felt we don’t know until the end of the story when he voices his feelings towards Mark.
At the instant we step into their lives, Mark just found out about the cheating of Jamie. After cleaning out his apartment and getting rid of Jamies stuff, he goes to his friend Tony’s house to hide from Jamie for one night. And then things start to get hot, hot, hot. Thanks to some alcohol that’s thrown into the mix Mark and Tony end up in the bathroom finally getting down to some hot action.
I loved all the sex scenes between those two guys. My only complaint is that there weren’t enough of them ;) No seriously, the balance between the humor, suspense and hot lovin’ was perfect. I enjoyed Mark’s self absorbed ramblings as much as the ex involved action and the sexy scenes with Tony.

To round this up: if you happen to like reading M/M romances and you want an entertaining, sometimes even hilarious, romantic and very hot read with a little suspense and sexy as hell protags, you should definitely pick up Gobsmacked! Don’t wait, go get it now!

Happy Gay Friday & L.B. Gregg and Jenna Byrnes

I've finished this week a few M/M reads. First there was the short free story Four Golden Rings by T.A. Chase (look at my sidebar for download), which features the heroes of Chase's two Love of Sports series. It was fun, quick and toothaching sweet. It was nice because I read the Love of Sports books and I knew the characters.

The second story I read was Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg. I posted some tid bits earlier and Mandi 'warned' me for a cereal stuck to butt scene :) which I anticipated a lot! And indeed... it had me laughing out loud and I kept me chuckling for many minutes. Until the hot sex exploded form the pages... I plan to write a review about this first book in the Men of Smithfield series later, but for now I can tell that I'm very glad to have this book recommended to me! It's witty, sexy and has lovely characters!

Last but not least I read Nothing but Trouble by Jenna Byrnes. This book I'd won last Sunday at the author's blog and is the same book that 'deflowered' Cecile who had never read a M/M romance before. It's a long short story (around 50 pages in my pdf version) and considering the length it was really good. It was a bit rushed towards the end, things happened fast and love was found very quickly but that's not unusual with the shorter stories. The most important thing is that the couple was loveable and their relationship was sexy and very, very steamy! My, the love scenes got me blushing from head to toes! My hubby didn't know what hit me... or him.

And, as I just posted, I decided to sign up for the M/M Romance Challenge 2010 since I like reading about man love so much :)

Enjoy today's steamy wet couple. Happy Gay Friday to you all!!

Today's Man Candy & a taste of Gobsmacked

[image]

 Isn't he gorgeous? Just love the red socks, don't you?

This morning, before work, I started reading Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg and I can't wait to get back to that story. I loved the first chapter where the hero smacked his cheating lover on the head in church 'in front of God and everyone' LOL! Here's the description of that scene:

My hands clenched the book rack, and my fingers brushed against the
Bible proudly displayed there. Staring at Jamie's once sweet curls hugging his
rough jaw, I slid the good book out of its safe haven. The cracked leather was
worn, but its bulk reassuring. Encouraging, even. So I hauled back, fueled by
boiling rage, and gobsmacked that bastard as hard as I could in front of God and
everyone. The Bible hit the back of Jamie's head with a resounding Thwack!

Priceless isn't it?

What's touching my Soft Spot this week

The things I have a soft spot for are countless. There’s the contented purring of our 18-year old cat, my hubby’s sweet smile, chocolate (in all sorts and sizes), my hubby doing his sit-ups and pushups before bedtime in his boxer briefs *sigh*, the feeling of snowflakes on my skin, the playful twinkle in my hubby’s eyes, surprise parties, my hubby rubbing my feet… You see the theme here *grin*? I could go on and on, but before you start to dislike my hubby, I’ll cut it short.

From today I want to share what touched my book related soft spot on a weekly base with you. And my book related SS is most definitely touched by certain book covers, excerpts and to a lesser extent back blurbs.
While doing my browsing in the online bookstores and my blog-rounds this week a lot of irresistible and interesting books touched my SS one way or the other.
To keep track on those and to share them with you, here’re this week’s findings, that are all new to me authors and high on my wishlist now:

First of all there’s this hot cover of Magnus by Jambrea Jo Jones.
It shows a sexy alpha male and it turns out that the story is featuring one indeed. His name is Joe “Magnus” Rivers.

Blurb: Magnus is a marine Colonel and his job is his reason for being. Protecting the United States of America from all threats is his sole purpose in life. That life is turned upside down when a woman is assigned to his team of elite Marines and his attraction to her threatens his career.
NCIS Special Agent Emily Patterson’s orders: infiltrate Colonel
Rivers’ team and find the culprits behind a slate of kidnappings connected to a sex slave ring. Her mission parameters didn’t include an attraction for Colonel Rivers but nothing in Emily’s career could have prepared her for Magnus. Her job becomes more difficult as she gets to know the man behind the uniform and Emily
finds herself wanting to prove herself to him, potentially exposing her identity before she clears Mag.
Mag and Emily struggle against their growing feelings for one another, both knowing the consequences of giving in to lust. Mag is Emily’s team leader and fraternizing is against the rules. Emily is investigating Mag and his team; getting involved with him could ruin her investigation and her career.

There’s an excerpt on Liquid Silver Books. It’s rather long, so click here to read it.
And another one is this one from The BlackRaven’s Erotic Café, combined with an interview:

“All clear, Alpha.”
“Back to base, double-time.”
The soldiers made it to the camp without incident.
“Sir…sir!” Patterson called.
He stopped and she ran right into him
Ten feet and I could have been in my office. Goddamn it.
He didn’t turn around. “What seems to be the problem, Patterson?”
“I need to talk to you, sir.”
“Then talk.”
“Um…could we go into your office?”
He nodded, continued to his office and didn’t stop until he sat behind his desk and she stood at attention in front of it.
“At ease, Lieutenant. Talk.”
She stood at parade rest, but didn’t look relaxed.
“I thought we were on a real mission today, sir.”
“Are you questioning me, Lieutenant Patterson?”
“No, sir.”
“Let me ask you a question, princess.”
She started to say something, but he could tell she thought better of it when she pinched her lips together and stood straighter. He had to fight his grin.
“Sir?”
“Why are you here? Why the Marines?”
“Permission to speak freely?”
He waved her on.
“Because Daddy said I couldn’t do it,” she said with malice in her voice. “I’m here to prove him and everyone else wrong. I can do this.”
“Daddy trying to make it easy for you? Paving the way to a combat troop?” he taunted, knowing full well she’d paid her dues.
“I did my time on Parris Island. I deserve to be here”
“I’ve been over your records, Patterson. The General showed them to me before he put you on my team. I know you’re a solid Marine, but you shouldn’t be here. My team is on the front line. You’re a distraction we don’t need.”
He looked to see if she would respond, but she said nothing.
Mag continued, “What happens when you miss the target and go down? My men would be worried about protecting you, not fighting the enemy. I can’t have that. Our lives depend on trusting each other in a fight. Just last month you shot Stewart in a mock exercise. Today your ass wiggled so far in the air I’m surprised the patrol didn’t spot it. You aren’t ready.”
Patterson stepped forward and put her hands on his desk, placing her face-to-face with him. He cocked a brow at her and wondered if she realized she’d broken protocol.
She leaned in and spoke in a low, soft voice. “I’m ready, Sir. Put me on the line. I’ll do my job.”
His body reacted in an unexpected way. His cock rose to attention.
Goddamn it! Down, boy, nothin' to see here.
Mag brought his face so close to hers they were almost nose-to-nose. He spoke just as softly. “You are not ready. You will never be ready. Go home now before you fucking kill someone or end up dead.”
He watched her shiver a little and his cock throbbed in answer. It took all his military control not to kiss her. When her tongue eased out of her mouth to lick her lips he thought he would lose his military bearing and he almost groaned, but caught himself.
No fucking way is this happening.
She never dropped her gaze and he respected her just a little more for that. Most men couldn’t hold his glare. She wasn’t afraid of him, he realized when she didn’t back down.
Well Fuck.
“What was that, sir?”
He must have spoken aloud. He needed to get her off kilter. Mag leaned in closer so their noses touched, his lips pressed almost on hers. Her breath mingled with his.
“Get the fuck out of my office. You’re dismissed. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home.”
Then she did the unthinkable. Patterson’s tongue touched his mouth as she moistened her dry lips. He couldn’t help it. He tried, but before he could think, his tongue met hers for a brief second before they both pulled away. Patterson stood at attention, saluted him, spun around and raced out of his office as if the devil himself followed on her heels.
“Shit. Fuck. Goddamn it!” He slammed his hand on his desk. “No way is this happening. No fucking way!”

The second cover that got to my soft spot was that of If Looks Could Chill by Nina Bruhns. It's a suspense romance.

Blurb: A kick-ass Yankee cop and her special-ops Cajun guide search the Louisiana swamp for a deadly virus, but succumb to a fever of a very different sort. Mysterious deaths stalk the bayou. No-nonsense Louisiana State trooper Tara Reeves reluctantly enlists the aid of Marc Lafayette, a too-sexy-for-his-own-good Cajun heartbreaker, to guide her on her search for evidence so she can bring down those responsible. But the source of the deaths is more dangerous than Tara could ever imagine. A foreign
terrorist cell, plotting an attack on U.S. soil, is testing a deadly biological
weapon in the remote wilderness of the swamp.
But the terrorists aren’t the only ones with secrets…
What Tara doesn’t know is that her sexy guide is part of a covert special ops team sent to destroy the terrorist threat, and Marc is not happy about having to babysit a nosy cop—even one as temptingly beautiful as Tara. But as they search the Louisiana swamp for a deadly virus, they succumb to a fever of a very different sort. Both of them know that love and work don’t
mix, a harrowing showdown with the enemy will make their steamy passion boil over…and change their lives forever.

There’s an excerpt at the author’s site. This book will be released at December 1.

Turned out that this is the second book in a series. The first one is Shoot to Thrill, which doesn’t have a bad cover either. Read the excerpt here.

The third book that caught my eye this week is Men On Fire by Rachelle Chase, Jodi Lynn Copeland and Susan Lyons. Firemen always seem to touch my soft spot and I love them being the hero of my romances. This one looks really HOT, although I could have done without the chopped off head…

Blurb: Brave, bold, and dangerously sexy, firefighters are every woman's fantasy. Meet three hot heroes who take scorching desire to a whole new level...Executive Jade Rousseau needs to find a fake fiance to parade around her company's social events. When her friends bid on red-hot firefighter Quinn O'Malley at a benefit auction, Jade bids higher.
The man has to be hers - and she can't wait to feel the passion...When fashion designer Delta Ballantyne asks firefighter Evan Marshall to model her sexy line of men's underwear, she can't stop the sizzling fantasies running through her mind, beginning with sophisticated foreplay...and ending with the ultimate climax...Ever since Erica Donelson's ex-husband left her, his former best buddy, firefighter Lincoln Gabriel, has been there for her. But before long, their warm friendship heats up to a burning lust that won't be denied...

The first pages can be read at Amazon here.

The last soft spot cover I’m gonna share today is Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg.
It’s the first story in the Men of Smithfield Series. I like reading M/M romances and this author has been recommended by one of the readers of my blog - thanks Patti!
This cover is sweet and I like the cold winter landscape combined with the hotness of two men kissing.

Blurb: No more Mr. Nice Guy. Mild mannered Mark Meehan’s good judgment flies out the window when he finds his lover banging another man. Things go from bad to worse as Mark’s crazy revenge scheme uncovers shocking secrets—sending him straight into the arms of hunky lawman and old friend, Tony Gervase, a man of limited patience and secrets of his own.

The following excerpt is from the author’s website:

"I snagged two beers and slammed the fridge door. Whirling around, I crashed into Tony’s chest. “Get out of the way, T.”
His big hands came up and he gripped my shoulders; his face honest in its intensity. “That guy’s bad news, Mark. You were an idiot to get involved with him in the first place.”
I shoved him, knocking his hands from my shoulders, his touch felt almost patronizing. “I heard you the first time. I more than know that now. He drained my bank accounts. Took everything.” More horrified by the loss of my money than the loss of my lover, my gut rolled. It was the beer on an empty stomach.
“What? How?”
“I found out when I stopped by the bank. I have nothing. It’s all gone. So, yes, he’s got no self control and he’s a thief and I can’t for the life of me figure out why he thought I wouldn’t notice. He’s crazy. I mean how fucking stupid and needy does he think I am? Don’t answer that.”
“You need to report this, Mark.” He was firm. “Obviously you were needy for something. Maybe you were blinded by his cock. It’s been known to happen.”
I blinked at him. “Fuck. You.”
Tony leapt, slamming me into the refrigerator; his chest flattened into mine, his hand grabbed my chin, forcing it up. I froze, shocked. “Don’t tempt me.” He drilled me with a vicious look, and then his eyes shifted down to my mouth. I knew that look. I went from shocked to breathless while my tongue, that teasing bastard, slid out to dampen my dry lips. All the thoughts I’d ever had of Tony’s mouth on mine, however suppressed or unrequited, came charging forward in that split second and I almost leaned into him. Almost. It was the booze. It had to be.
His heart pounded into mine, our chests rising and falling together as our breathing sped up. His hand was just short of painful, biting into my jaw, holding me firm. Oh Christ, here was an unexpected development and I wanted it. Tony was punishing me and, irrational as ever, I was desperate for him to put his mouth on me."

So far, my soft spots. Hope you enjoyed some of them too!