Saturday Update

Happy Saturday. Click on the cutie and his pup above and check out my post on pets in m/m at Wave's place today. I got some reading done this week but was feeling a bit blahbitty blah.

Gay Man Seeks Same by Kim Dare (45 pages)

Craig is looking for a guy like him, one who wants to settle down and have a normal life. One day at work he's heading out for an on-line lunch date. Who shows up? His colleague who he's been crushing on but is into the leather scene and sleeps around, not what Craig wants. He gets upset but back at work Donovan corners him in the bathroom and a hand job in the stall ensues. Craig agrees to go home with him and finds all the toys at Donovan's disconcerting as Donovan is a Dom and he wants Craig as his sub. Craig sneaks out when Donovan's on the phone and the next day they have it out about what Craig and Donovan both want in a relationship.

I mentioned that I think I need to take a Kim Dare break. There is nothing inherently wrong with the story, it's typical of the author's work, which is the problem. The whole "frozen in place and unable to move even in a situation like the public bathroom at your work where you could be fired if caught" frustrates the hell out of me. How old are you? 12? Grow a freaking backbone. Being a sub doesn't mean freezing like a deer in the headlights as soon as a guy looks at you. Then on the way out of the office he figures he "owes" Donovan because he got an orgasm and Donovan didn't. Oh please. I literally made a scoffing sound out loud while reading. So I don't think there is anything wrong with the conventions this author tends to use, but I've just come across them too often and I've lost interest and sympathy for the characters because they are all the same. And the smug Dom also annoys me, and Donovan was oh so smug. So I think I just need a break and maybe when I go back to the author's work it will be fresh for me again.

Gracie by BK Wright (7 pages)

Chris bought this one for me. Why? Because somehow Khris decided I should be the one to read this and review. Why? Because it's told from the kitten's POV, which Chris hates so I volunteered to take one for the team. Aren't I a good friend?

Gracie is a kitten who was rescued by Cameron and Drew. She basically talks about her Daddies and how much they love her and goes through her morning routine with you as she wakes them up and gets cuddles and attention. She tells you a bit about Drew and Cameron, their personalities and how they met. That day they are being interviewed by a newspaper who's doing a story on gay dating. Gracie hangs out with them napping (she naps a lot) while the interview is going on. Okay, Gracie's voice is typically kittenish and self-centered when she's talking. She's a baby, she thinks she's the centre of the universe, probably as it should be for a kitten. However because she naps a lot she doesn't tell the whole story, after the reporter leaves there is a sex scene but she's not in the room. However the tone of the story doesn't change all that dramatically. It's still told as if a third person is observing the action and while on a scale of 1-5 Gracie's voice is a 5, the narrator when Gracie's out cold is a 4. So it still sounds like Gracie a bit which is freaky when describing a sex scene. Like as if your kid was watching you. There wasn't really much story, just how they met and how perfect they are and how happy they are and how adorable Gracie is. So I didn't hate when Gracie spoke but I would have loved to see a more distinct change when she wasn't speaking to make it clear "cat done, human takes over".

I'm not sure who the Beau to Beau publisher is. It was set up weirdly with the picture, immediately followed by the blurb, followed by the address and copyright and the word "Book Content:". Each separated by one line. At the end there is just the author's name. No bio. So I'm not sure if they are self-published, but it was very "basic" and certainly didn't follow the standard e-book conventions (which are similar to paper books). Oh and value for $? No so much. Chris splurged $1.50 for this, that's .25 per page. Put that into perspective, Sindustry II was $7 or .02 per page. Hmmmmm.

Pool Hall Green by Sara Bell (113 pages)

Drew is a former pool shark who gets a call from his estranged family. His gambling addict brother got himself $250K in debt and as usual they call on Drew to fix it. But they guy he owes doesn't want money, he wants Drew. He threatens to call in the debt, bankrupting Drew's parents if Drew won't play in a pool tournament for him to get revenge against another player. Drew reluctantly agrees but on the condition his brother goes to rehab. When his brother checks out and threatens suicide Drew's father beats him and nearly breaks his arm. He finally admits that his family will never love him (kicked him out when he came out) and he says his brother has to fix it, he's done. Meanwhile he's started a bit of a relationship with the blackmailer Evan but Evan is too fixated on revenge so Drew leaves to go back to Phoenix. While it seems like a set-up for a blackmail story, it's really a relationship story about enabling an addict and taking advantage of someone who so desperately wants the love and acceptance of his family and who finally has to admit to himself it's never going to happen. Drew's Aunt (his Mom's sister) who raised him after he was kicked out was great, she was a good Mom and funny too. So I really enjoyed this one.