Oh yeah, it's Monday - Ugh

Every week day I get up at the same time. 6:15. Okay, the alarm goes off at 6:15, what time I get up is another matter but 6:40 at the latest. Except Sunday. Thanks to ungodly early riding lessons for my daughter we get up at 7:00. So Sunday night I have to remember to reset my alarm. Last night I did. BUT, I didn't actually turn it on. So this morning I woke up at 7:17. Sigh. My daughter is supposed to be out of the house at 7:40 but I usually wake her up so I said I'd drive her. I HATE mornings like that. My brain not awake and of course I hadn't ironed any pants last night thinking I'd do it in the morning. So she was about 3 minutes late for school and I was 20 min. later for work. Not a big deal, but I still feel kind of off-kilter.


Did some reading on the weekend and went to Avatar yesterday. Meh. The scenery (the floating mountains and glow-in-the-dark everything) was bloody amazing, the story? Not so much. I saw the whole plot spelled out for me about the 5 minute mark. Val did a great post at Wave's about stock characters and stereotypes and this movie had every single one. The evil military guy who orders people killed, the evil mining company raping the planet, the mining manager who only cares about money, the peaceful natives in tune with nature, the young hero who is manipulated to give information but "goes native" and then sides with the indigenous people to help them, the conflict with the heir apparent, falling in love with the princess, blah blah blah. Every Disney movie ever but with more violence and cooler special effects. And the 3-D glasses made my nose hurt and were unnecessary I think. Oh well, I can say I've seen it and the scenery really wouldn't look as impressive on a TV as it did on the big screen. But worth $27 for two of us? Mmmm, maybe not.


So on with the reading.


Better Than a Dream by Katsumi Asanami (250 pages)


Yuuki owns a cafe in a small town near a popular mountain for climbing. For two years he lived with his mountain climber lover Tsukada in gay bliss until Tsukada was killed in an avalanche. A year later a high class chef with a limp shows up and more or less bullies his way into a job and room and board. (as per many yaoi themes) Yuuki goes with the flow and he likes Kamishiro so they get along. Meanwhile Yuuki's friend Shin has been hanging around for the last year, obviously waiting for his chance with Yuuki but when he assumes Yuuki and Kamishiro are sleeping together he gets drunk and nearly rapes Yuuki which spurs Yuuki to make a move on Kamishiro. Things are going well until Shin reveals that Kamishiro was one of the people on the mountain when Tsukada died and it seems Yuuki has been more or less pretending Kamishiro is his old lover as they resemble each other to recreate what he lost. Conflict ensues until he realizes he loves Kamishiro for himself and not because he's a replacement. On the whole this was a pretty good book but with a few issues. Yuuki is a bit of a mess, he figures it's his fault his friend almost raped him because he should have slept with him sooner. Huh? WTF is up with that? Is that a Japanese thing? And there is a bit of hopping around in time as he remembers his life with Tsukada and what happened when he died, but it was an okay yaoi novel which will be starting it's world tour shortly.


Seducing Stephen by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon (144 pages)




It seems we can't use "accidental" reads in my m/m rut challenge. *pout* It's historical. Sheesh. Anyway, Peter shows up at his friends' house where they host sex parties occasionally and finds a boy in his bed. Oops, wrong weekend, but while Stephen (a guest of the hosts' son) is initially freaked he's all up for some man-lovin'. Peter tries to steer clear and while he doesn't really hide his preferences, he's a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. But Stephen asks for more education which Peter is pleased to provide. When the host asks him to leave he says some nasty things to make Stephen think he's an ass. He then spends the rest of the book regretting it as she seems to have turned Stephen into a guy like himself. Eventually Stephen has to drop out of school to take over the family business (which he hates) and Peter has to find a solution to convince Stephen they can be together. Realistic? Not sure. Maybe. Peter says he's rich and influential enough that people ignore what he is, so it could happen. They are discrete though to a point and worry about being seen but it's not the excessive "Oh my god, I'm so evil cause I like the butt secks" self-flagellation I've been running into which makes me berserk. So for a historical for me it was a decent read. Kept me interested anyway.

Oh the authors are guest posting at TA Chase's blog today if you want to read more about them and this book.


Quinn's Hart by Cassandra Gold (145 pages)



Quinn's friend more or less bullies him to go on a singles tour to Disney. He's 6"7" and 250 lbs of shy insecurity. He's sure he's going to hate it and is attracted to a hot guy who he's sure will hate him. But Josh is intrigued by Mr. Big and Silent and invites him to join a few of the guys when they have free time. Seems they get along great but Quinn is still sure it's Josh being nice. Eventually he believes Josh wants to spend time with him but they keep being interrupted by a couple of other guys who are pushy and clingy. Eventually they get to the smexin' when Josh's ex shows up at the door and says some nasty things about Quinn which shoot right to the heart of his self-esteem issues. I did enjoy this book in part because of the Disney references. They go to the theme parks and the author talks about the ride and Josh is like a kid which amuses Quinn and when he makes Quinn go on the It's A Small World ride I could so related to Quinn's response. That thing will scar you for life, I swear, but it's almost mandatory. LOL So I'm not a Disney freak but it was fun and Quinn and Josh were likable characters who I wanted to get a HEA so on the whole a cute little read especially for those who've been to Disney and will get many of the references.