Special thanks to Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm for the super header.


Monday, March 8, 2010

Fabulous Freebies

So in the last little while I won some free books, so I decided to read all of them (I think it's all of them that were outstanding) in one fell swoop.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Pepper Espinoza (106 pages)

I won this at Wave's as the Amber Allure free book.

Set in 1970, Alan and Simon are actors who have been friends and coworkers for years. Following the end of their TV show and an unexpected night of passion following Alan's divorce, they have a falling out and Alan leaves town, presumably for NYC. Alan's ex contacts Simon saying that Alan is working some hick town traveling theatre and sends him to find him as Alan's kids miss him. When he finds him, Alan finally explains that he has to stay because he sold his soul to the devil and his payment is to be in the same play over and over in Georgia. Once Simon realizes it's true, he confronts the devil and comes up with a plan for him and Alan to perform a piece and if they are good enough they get to go free, if not he gets Simon's soul as well. Meanwhile Simon and Alan act on their long-time feelings for each other. It was an interesting concept. I'm not sure quite why it was set in 1970 as that didn't really factor in except for a lack of cell phones. I liked how Alan and Simon finally admitted their feelings and how it was resolved although probably completely unrealistically as they didn't seem worried at all about Alan's ex's reaction to them being together or how it could affect their careers. Alan was pretty angsty but then I suppose being stuck in "Hell" can do that to a guy. If you're looking for something kind of different with a paranormal feel it's a good read.

Maritime Men by Janie Chapel (60 pages)

I won this on Janey Chapel's LiveJournal site. Thanks so much Janey.

Eli and Cooper are in the same unit training to be Navy Seals. Eli is the defacto leader of the group and manages to get them through the grueling training. One night Cooper helps Eli out with his "frustration" and then they kind of start fooling around and getting closer, not only as friends but lovers and yet they never say they are gay or that they are exclusive. They just kind of let it happen. I REALLY enjoyed these guys. What I particularly liked was while neither had been in a gay relationship before they didn't get freaked about it. Cooper in particular still seemed to like girls but was content to have sex with Eli and he loved him, in part because of the bonding through training. So I'm really looking forward to Anchors Aweigh now so I can find out what happens to Eli and Cooper. They were a great couple with very distinctly different but likable personalities.

Seeing You by Dakota Flint (54 pages)

I won this courtesy of Jen of Well Read and Dakota over at DIK. Thanks Jen and Dakota.

Following the death of his brother, Dylan left the ranch his brother ran with his partner Wade, partly because it was hard to be there and partly because he had always been in love with Wade as well. He gets the call to come back home because the ranch has gone to hell in a hand basket. He comes home and kicks Wade in the ass and gets the ranch back on track. He admits how he feels about Wade but doesn't jump in to be Wade's security blanket until he gets his head on straight. Okay, everyone knows I have a squick factor, big time, with the sibling hooking up with an in-law following death and I just didn't know if this would work, but I won it and I thought it would push me out of my boundaries a bit. So did it work for me or not? Oh yeah. I even needed a freaking tissue. *sniff* *sniff* Really well done and I wasn't squicked at all and yes, it's pretty angsty (see tissue reference) but it's also very hopeful I guess is the word, that you can move on after your life is shattered. So I'm glad I got the chance to read it and thanks again Jen and Dakota.

23 comments:

Chris said...

I just won Maritime Men myself!! And I have the other two on my reader already.

*makes mental note to keep the hankies handy for Seeing You*

Tam said...

I really enjoyed Maritime Men Chris. We are lucky ducks. I'm not usually huge on military stories because of the DADT thing, but that wasn't an issue here. They weren't skipping around the base holding hands but it wasn't that parnaoia thing either.

Well, I'm kind of a sap, but I think you have mentioned hankies before so you may need one. LOL

Chris said...

I cried both times I read Faith in Fidelity......

We have been lucky!! :)

Jenre said...

Yay! Glad you liked Seeing You and Maritime Men is such a fab bok.

Tam said...

I did like them both Jen. They were definitely great wins for me. The Devil was okay, but I didn't love it like the others. No tears. ;-)

So is 1970 historical or just old? LOL

wren boudreau said...

1970 can't be old. I was alive then! Let's think of it as recent-contemporary.

I loved Maritime Men. If you needed a hanky for Seeing You, I'd need three. Still, I may read that one.

Love the eyes on your hottie!

Tam said...

"1970 can't be old. I was alive then!"

That's what I kept thinking but then the one guy's kid was the same age I would be, so it kind of freaked me out that they were my Dad's age now. Twisted thinking.

I'm usually pretty tough when I read and am not a leaker most of the time, but there were some sad moments in this one.

He is pretty isn't he? That's what attracted me to the picture.

Average Reader said...

Wow, Tam, you have been lucky! I like Wren's suggestion a lot that we think of 1970 as "recent contemporary" (yes, I remember 1970, too!). I've seen the title of the first one before, but I'd assumed it was a metaphor! The character really sells his soul to the Devil? And his tv show gets cancelled anyway?

Maritime Men - you said, "What I particularly liked was while neither had been in a gay relationship before they didn't get freaked about it." Nice! I like the sound of that. I'm going to read this one very, very soon (which I need to because the sequel is coming out this Wednesday!)

The third one sounds good, too. I need to keep all three in mind.

Tam said...

Val, seems the Devil gave him 10 years with the guarantee his kids would never want for anything. When his 10 years were up, he had to go to Georgia (Hell in itself no? LOL) and do the play forever. I guess the devil continued to make sure he had enough money for child/spousal support and he was allowed to talk to his kids by phone. The author used little quotes from the play Faustus which was what he was performing at the beginning of the chapters and some from the song to set the mood for each chapter. That part was well done.

wren boudreau said...

Yes! Val and I are creating a new category: Recent contemporary.

Have you noticed that the music we listened to as teens has become "easy listening"?

Tam said...

I have to confess I don't like much music from my youth. I'm really more about the new stuff. But definitely easy listening unless you were into AC/DC then it's "classic" rock. :-)

Erotic Horizon said...

Congrats on the wins...

I have read Seeing You and I loved it ... Maritine Men, Jen has been telling us alot about that, So I mught give it a go as it's only 50 odd pages....


...I know there's a movie with the plotline of the first one... Nicholas on a burning bike....

Can't remember the name now.... but I did like it....

Ahhhh..Ghostrider...

Glad it worked for you...

E.H>

Janna said...

Good to see that you liked Seeing You despite your little squick. I loved it.

About Maritime Men I'm not so sure. I read it in my early m/m days, lol (like it was ages ago, but it was only September last year). And I just didn't like it much. I'm wondering now what I missed then and if I must consider a reread :)
If you're interested you can find my thoughts here: http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-of-maritime-men-by-janey-chapel.html

Tam said...

Maritime Men doesn't take long to read EH, I found it worth the time. I've never seen Ghostrider but I heard about it. Heard it was bad. LOL But I think the selling your soul to the Devil and then trying to get out of it is a pretty common theme. With love trimphing over all. Or brains from time to time. :-)

Tam said...

You made some good points Janna. The guys were just kind of going with the flow without too many thoughts about how they felt or what they were doing, although I always got the feeling Eli felt more than Cooper who seemed oblivious. Perhaps the next installment will answer some of those questions as they move beyond training and into their regular "jobs" if you will. It would be interesting to see things from Eli's POV but I have no idea where the author went on that front.

Not every book works for everyone. Look at me and poor Ryland. :-) It's hard to say sometimes why a book appeals and other times why it doesn't.

Janna said...

Thanks for taking the time to read it, Tam. Your right, it would be interesting to see things from Eli's POV too. If the sequel is written from his POV I might give it a try just as well.
I think it was also that it was my first book without a HEA and I hadn't heard of them before ;).

K. Z. Snow said...

Tam, I swear, you're the biggest wiener I know!

:-)

Tam said...

Thanks KZ. :-)

Speaking of WIENERS

Dakota Flint said...

Hey Tam, you're welcome! I'm glad SY didn't squick you out. :)

Tam said...

Thanks so much for the opportunity to read it Dakota. The squick factor was low and the enjoyment factor high. :-)

K. Z. Snow said...

Wow, I like that! It's sort of a sculpture for the barbie.

Lily said...

Congrats on the wins!

The Devil book sounds ok and I'm really looking forward to reading Maritime Men.

I did read Seeing You a few days ago and loved it. Very well written.

Tam said...

Seeing You was well written Lily. Maritime Men is definitely worth the time. I'm looking forward to the sequel this week.