Sharon’s Review: To Adam With Love by Adrienne Wilder

Adrienne Wilder
To Adam With Love (Gray Zone, #1)
Dreamspinner Press, August 28, 2011

Links: Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
Adam's mother brought him as a child to the Gray Zone, the no man's land between the crumbling city and the Dens where the Kin-the Dragons-and Lesser-Breds-their mixed-blood-offspring-live. He was different, not completely Human, and she knew fear and prejudice would drive people to do horrible things... like a father trying to kill his son. Five years later, Adam's father is behind bars and Adam has come home to the Zone, the last place anyone would expect innocence, loyalty, and devotion, to complete his becoming Lesser-Bred and find his best friend and only love, Ean.
But Ean has a life of his own. He's always wanted to belong to Batu, the Male Kin who has watched over him since childhood, but now Ean's caught in a deadly trap of biology and vengeance: he isn't enough to feed his beloved Adam during the dangerous transformation, and Kin won't allow an emotional bond in their midst. Years ago Ean lost Adam after failing to keep him safe. Now that Adam is back, will a simple feeling give Ean the strength to defy everything he's ever known and keep them together?

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Dragons, Shifters,

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 3 out of 3
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Reviewed by SharonS.:

What an emotionally powerful story. I am a big fan of dark Urban Fantasy/PNR and this definitely fits that genre. The story is about the love and loyalty between two best friends who come from different worlds and the brutal choices they are willing to make to be together. I was also taken with the sweet innocence as they discover the physical and emotional bond between them.

Kin are not human. They are dragons who can look human and live by their own set of brutal laws. In their society you take care of what is yours and only keep what you need. There is no concept of love, just taking care of the ‘need’. Kin need to “feed”, with blood or sex, and by taking a metaphysical energy during these feedings.
Lesser-Bred are the offspring of a Kin and a human woman. They are born human, but eventually the Kin side will surface and without the help of other male Kin the Lesser-Bred will die.

Adam grew up in the Gray Zone because his mother knew he would become Lesser-Bred. As a child he befriended Ean. Ean is human, but for some reason has been raised by Batu, a Kin. Ean has only ever known the way of Kin which means he never learned to read or write and is waiting for the day Batu will make him ‘belong’, which means he will live for centuries and be able to ‘feed’ Batu. His human feelings were never nurtured.
I fell in love with Adam and Ean as they struggled to understand each others world. Ean’s struggle to put words he didn’t know to the feelings Adam awakened in him. There is brilliant layering of emotions from all the characters and the last line of the book brought tears to my eyes.

I don’t normally talk about the structure of a story, but the author’s use of flashbacks and secondary characters to help with the world building was genius. At no time was there the info dump that plagues many UFs. The character Brian, who is in love with Adam, gives us insight into how the human world views the Kin society. He also represents the normal life Adam has been denied because he is a Lesser-Bred, and the tragic consequences when the two worlds mix. The only other Lesser-Bred we meet in this story is Jerry. He lives with Batu and Ean. We only get a few scenes with him, but we learn so much about the life of the Lesser-Breds through him.
The story takes place when Adam comes back after a 5 year absence (he is an adult now) from the Gray Zone. The author uses well placed flashbacks to catch us up on Adam and Ean’s story as well as more world building. For someone who reads a lot of UF, I was impressed with Wilder’s writing skills.

I am a little disappointed with the cover art choice for this book. It doesn’t even begin to convey the dark edge of this story. I don’t know if you will be as taken with this story as I was, since I love dark Urban Fantasy/PNR, but I don’t think you will be disappointed.
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Happy Gay Friday & 7 Happy Couples That Make Me Smile

Happy, Happy Gay Friday everyone!

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Sharon’s Review: Valiant One by Jay Hughes

Jay Hughes
Valiant One
Ellora`s Cave/Jasmine Jade, September 30, 2011

Links: Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
Ragnar, a hardened Scottish soldier, is indifferent to English rule of his homeland until he falls in love with Gylis McIvoy, a fellow Scotsman. They have a brief and passionate affair, but circumstances tear them apart permanently. Ragnar swears vengeance, and soon becomes a freedom fighter modeled on the recently captured and executed William Wallace.
Ragnar manages to raise a ragtag army that rains terror down on Longshanks' occupying forces, but in the process, he has a chance meeting with the king's son, Prince Edward of Wales. Sparks fly between them despite the impossibility of an English prince taking a Scottish enemy soldier as his lover-giving new meaning to "the love that dare not speak its name". These two star-crossed lovers may cross swords on the battlefield by day, but they still manage to heat up the night.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Historical, Scotland, Battle strategies, Politics of Feudal England, Prince, Soldier

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Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 1 out of 3
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Reviewed by SharonS.:

I was disappointed with this story. Maybe because I was expecting something different. There isn’t much romance and the sex wasn’t…sexy. The author spends most of the story talking about battle strategies and the politics of Feudal England. There are too many secondary characters and subplots for a story of this length (novella). The author wanted to impress upon the reader that the Scots are fierce fighters and proud people. But it was mentioned so much it became a distraction to me.

The story of how Ragnar met his first love Gylis is told as a flashback. They met in a pub and talked. Then realized they had a connection and walked into the woods holding hands. Ragnar, a virgin, ends up the bottom and decides that this is what has been missing from his life and this must be love. Just didn’t ring true for me. I thought the story would be about Ragnar and the young Prince Edward, but they spent very little time together in the story, yet fell in love. I just didn’t buy it. I didn’t feel any passion between the characters.

The author obviously did a lot of research about the thirteenth century and put a lot of work into the story so it surprised me when the characters kept referring to the guerilla warfare of the Scots. That phrase didn’t appear until the 1800’s.

I am not sure what audience would enjoy this story. It didn’t work for me.
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Sharon’s Review: Sticks & Stones by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
Sticks & Stones (Cut & Run #2)
Dreamspinner Press, January 25, 2010

Links: Abigail Roux’s website | Madeleine Urban’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
Six months after nearly losing their lives to a serial killer in New York City, FBI Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett are suffering through something almost as frightening: the monotony of desk duty. When they're ordered to take a vacation for the good of everyone's sanity, Ty bites the bullet and takes Zane home with him to West Virginia, hoping the peace and quiet of the mountains will give them the chance to explore the explosive attraction they've so far been unable to reconcile with their professional partnership.
Ty and Zane, along with Ty's father and brother, head up into the Appalachian mountains for a nice, relaxing hike deep into the woods... where no one will hear them scream. They find themselves facing danger from all directions: unpredictable weather, the unrelenting mountains, wild animals, fellow hikers with nothing to lose, and the most terrifying challenge of all. Each other.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Contemporary, Suspense, Agents, FBI, Action, West Virginia, Mountains

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3
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Reviewed by SharonS.:

Sticks & Stones has been out for a while and there are 968 ratings and 130 reviews of it on Goodreads. There isn’t much I can say about it that hasn’t been said already, but I am working my way through this fabulous series and maybe I can convince you to check it out if you haven’t read it yet.

This book picks up right after the traumatic events of book #1: Cut & Run. The first book was all about the action and suspense of the clever story line as well as the fiery passion that flares between Zane Garrett and Ty Grady. We learned a little about both men’s pasts, but the focus was on who they are now and the case they had to solve.

In book #2 Zane is still recovering emotionally from the last case and is forced to take a vacation. Ty invites him to tag along on his visit to his parents in the mountains. They are both struggling with the unfamiliar and somewhat unwanted feelings that are developing between them. Their relationship has been more of a physical one up to this point, but things are beginning to change. Though, Ty seems to be dealing with it better than Zane. What I loved most about this book is we got to learn about Ty’s past and how it made him into who he is today. We meet his strong and loving mother, his hard to please father and his funny and caring brother. Of course their relaxing camping trip turns into more of a bad horror movie when they run across some treasure hunters willing to kill to protect their secret.

Ty and Zane are forced to confront some of their fears and feelings for each other and there were some truly tender moments for these emotionally guarded men. My heart goes out to Ty as we learn he has never been in love before and is scared. He thinks Zane will never be able to return those feelings because he still loves his late wife. Lucky for Ty, his brother helps him deal with things. Zane on the other hand doesn’t have someone to confide in, even though he does start to open up to Ty’s brother too. Zane is just flat out terrified to love again after losing his wife. He has turned that part of himself off and I just hope he can find the courage to open himself up to what Ty is offering. I have a feeling I will be needing some hankies before this series is over.

The story ends with a happy for now ending as Ty cautiously reaches out to Zane. I can’t get enough of these two men! I am waiting for the first “I love you”. I have a feeling it will be Ty saying it and I can’t even imagine Zane’s reaction. I already have the next book Fish & Chips and can’t wait to find out!

If you haven’t read this series yet, you are missing out on a fabulous love story that will capture your heart as you watch it slowly develop. I can’t wait to read the next book(s) in the series.

The series so far:
#1 Cut & Run
#2 Sticks & Stones
#3 Fish & Chips
#4 Divide & Conquer
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Happy Gay Friday & My 3 Favorite Pastimes

Thanks to my Queer As Folk addiction that started a few months ago, I've discovered the wonderful (and sometimes awful) world of fan fiction. There are thousands and thousands of stories out there on websites dedicated to fan fiction about the characters of QAF alone. So, while I was partly incapacitated because of the lower back pain I not only rewatched all 5 seasons but also spent some time catching up with all the Brian and Justin fanfic stories I saved to my Instapaper. It was the perfect way to make the forced rest time in my internetless bedroom slightly bearable.

I've especially enjoyed an elaborate series of 'post 5.13' episodes called 'After the End (aka 514-526)' by Rachael (bloodyrose82) that give a longer and different ending to Justin and Brian's love story. The episodes start here (at the bottom is the link for the next episode, and so on). 
It took me some time to get used to the narrator's voice, which tells the stories not in first or third person but in second: Brian and Justin are 'you' during their alternating POV's. It's quite intriguing. And I think the author managed to stay very close to Brian and Justin's personalities as created in the show.

There are more QAF fanfic stories that I really liked, yet there are still so much more to discover. Here are few links to sites that have nice collections:

• QAFvault, this is where I found ‘After the End’ as well
• Ten favorite stories on qaf-fic.comqaf-fic.com
• Kiss the Pig QAF fan fiction
• Fanfiction.net’s QAF page which still has new QAF fanfic almost every day.
• Queer Eyes, a database that’s in the process of being rebuilt.

Aside from the fanfic there were a couple of books that kept me from going insane all alone in my bedroom. I mainly picked books that didn't need to get reviewed per se, because sitting up to type was a PITA. And I happened to choose some fabulous books. One of them was AL Turner's I Just Play One On TV. This is not such a surprising choice in the light of my QAF obsession, because like the title says, it's about a couple of actors playing together in a TV show and falling in love. Their roles on screen have a gay subtext and in real life one of the actors is a deeply closeted gay while the other one is kind of openly gay. This book surprised me with its depth and intensity. I loved it and I appreciated that it never became predictable. I have to thank Mariana from Hips Like Mine for making me get this book after I read this post of her.

No matter how much I enjoyed myself with QAF, fanfic and good books during the first weeks of the new year, I'm really glad to be pain free and able to move again.
The lazy watching and reading is fun for a short period of time but gets old very fast, especially when it's not voluntarily and during busy times at work. Did you know that you can feel stressed while doing nothing? Well, you can, when you think about all the work that's waiting for you when you finally get back to the office, knowing that it only gets worse the longer you stay away. And now that I’m working again I’m even more stressed than before because I can’t seem to get a grip on my work and I ended up staying way too long at the office the entire week.

So, what a way to start 2012, right? Thank goodness for sweet hubbies to bring change. Mine takes me away for the weekend to Bruges (Belgium). We're going to relax, enjoy each other and quietly celebrate my Birthday together. He perfectly sensed that I was not up for a house full of guests to remember me of my age, and he booked this nice weekend away for the two of us. After a few weeks of mishap I can finally say that I'm in my happy place again!

Happy Gay Friday everyone!

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