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


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Charity Sips #1

I've decided to do sort of mini-reviews of these Charity sips with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. Each one has a theme of doctors or healing in someway. Well, that's the intention. We'll see how it goes. I've only read a few but I'll try and make each Wednesday a sip update, maybe twice a week, we'll see how it goes. I don't want to burn out but many are short so easy quick reads for me. Click on the cover below to get to the site, you can buy them separately or all at once.

Live by the Sword by Lee Benoit (28 pages)
This is a story set in the world of Endicott Rex. It is the story of town vet Thayer and blind scientist who was responsible for creating the dragon dogs David. Two unsure men testing the waters. It also includes a sub-plot of young Bug who is from an abused home and ends up getting help from Thayer and David. For those who liked the Endicott Rex stories it's a nice addition.

Of Sound Mind by Elizabeth Brooks (29 pages)
Jody finds out he has stomach cancer which killed his Grandfather. He's very young and in this world you find your bonded mate and if you die, your mate dies. He's happy that he never found his mate since he saw the pain his Grandmother went through. While he's receiving treatment his mate finds him but he refuses to bond because he won't be responsible for his death. Even after he's declared cured he fears what could happen. I really enjoyed this one. The biological/emotional imperative to bond with your mate vs the fear that if you do, you could be condemning them to an early death worked well for me.

How Did I Lose My Passport and Find My Love by JM Cartwright (32 pages)
Dr. Vandenburg, Van, is a brilliant cardiologist and total airhead professor type. He's in London for a conference and misses the cruise ship to Denmark, then loses his passport somewhere between checking in the security gate at the airport. Much to his chagrin his boss, is arriving in London and he has to meet him and admit what a loser he is. He's in for a bit of a surprise when he finds out why Michael was on his way to London, and that he has big plans for the two of them. This was a cute story of the typical airhead brainiac and a dominant corporate boss.

Going Home by CB Conwy (21 pages)
Colin and Jamie have been dating for 4 years but Colin works for Doctors Without Borders (or similar organization) and heads off to save the world. Jamie's been supportive even though he hates it, he's never said don't go. Last time Colin went he witnessed his colleagues killed and was sent back, now he's going again and Jamie finally tells him how he feels, a bit late since Colin signed the contract. I enjoyed this one as well, the pull of Colin to do good and help people while coping with the trauma he experienced, Jamie wanting not to hold him back but hating it and not speaking up, probably typical guys not communicating. :-) Or typical me. Ooops.

Winston Quirk by Martin Delacroix (30 pages)
Set in 1975, Dane is in a rented house in the Bahamas on a small Cay where strangely there are no black people. One day he sees Winston and he saves him from being beaten that night. He spends the night and they spend the day on his boat. When Winston suggests visiting him in Florida he kind of freaks and Winston accuses him of being racist. Once again he saves Winston, from probably being murdered this time, and they are told to leave the island by the police. Kind of a HFN I guess. I had trouble relating to this one. Perhaps the language that was used, or the writing style, I'm not sure, but it just didn't pull me in that much. Didn't they use lube in the 70's?

House Sitting by M. Durango (30 pages)
Justin is house-sitting for his uncle the summer before grad school and wonders if this is his chance to hook up with his neighbor Ray, a doctor he's been crushing on since he was 16. Ray has a new kitten Molly who keeps escaping and in trying to get her off the shed roof, Justin falls and breaks his ankle. Ray takes him in to care for him and Justin has to convince him that despite a bad break-up, he should give them a chance. It was a nice little story with a bratty kitten that helped Justin finally fulfill his fantasy.

25 comments:

Chris said...

Wait, how many stories are there in the anthology?!

Tam said...

There are 28. From the site:

Get all 28 Sips for just $45.99, more than 15% off the regular price of $55.72 For 2010

They are $1.99 each.

Chris said...

LOL, yeah, that was a silly question from me, since I headed over there to scope it out after reading your post. :)

Average Reader said...

Tam, what a great idea! I'm reviewing three for Wave's site, and I was thinking I might review some more for my blog. You and I are reading from different points in the anthology, I think, and the only one of yours I've read so far is Winston Quirk. I kind of know what you mean with it. Impeccable writing and intriguing setting, but sort of distant perspective or a lack of strong emotion, maybe?

Tam said...

Maybe that was it Val, I just didn't connect. I'm not sure about order, I got them all in one HUGE file and I just started at the beginning. :-)

Going Home and Of Sound Mind were the two I connected with emotionally, maybe because they tackled more serious themes.

Lily said...

Like Val I'm reading 3 for Wave's site. I'll probably do mini reviews on the others as I read them in between other review books. I haven't read these yet.

Kris said...

I think your idea of spreading them out is a great one, Tam. An anthology of that many stories all around one theme might get a little wearing. :)

Jenre said...

Are you reading the stories in the order they come in the antho or just picking random? If it's the former then I'm confused cos my antho is in alphabetical order so I haven't read any of these yet *scratches head*.

I've read 5 of the stories so far and they've all been good, and some, like the KIL Kenny, story were just excellent.

Great idea to do mini reviews. I'm doing 4 reviews of the stories for Wave, but none of these.

Jenre said...

Actually, I've just noticed that your stories are in alphabetical order of author's surname, whereas mine is in alphabetical order of title of story.

Weird.

Tam said...

I think spreading them out is a good idea Lily, they are fast reads so good for when you have a few minutes and don't want to start something bigger.

So far they've all been different Kris, but there are a lot more to go so I think trying to read all 28 too quickly would do the later ones an injustice.

Tam said...

I received one LARGE file Jen and the table of contents has them in the order I read them. That's kind of strange that they would have them differently in another version, but mine is a review copy from the pub so maybe it's different? Not sure. Looking forward to Kate's story then.

Jenre said...

I bought the anthology which means I get the book in all formats, thanks to TQs new policy on the way they sell their books. The format I'm reading is epub. For some reason the epub version doesn't have a table of contents (because if you read it in adobe reader the contents are permanently shown on the left)and the stories aren't in alphabetical order of title, as I originally thought, but in some completely random order. The pdf, lit and mobi versions have a contents page and the stories are in alphabetical author order.

How strange that they've arranged the epub version completely differently to the other formats.

Anonymous said...

Oh, so glad you liked my story ("Of Sound Mind")! For those who might be wanting more - it's set in the same world as the novella Of One Mind, released last month, which focuses on Jereth and Caris. ;-)

Tam said...

Hmmm. Maybe it's some freaky formatting thing Jen. Does seem odd. Now you're all out of sync with the rest of the world. :-)

Tam said...

I'll definitely check out your other book Liz. I enjoyed your writing style and it tugged at my heart strings a bit so I'd be interested to read about the other couple. Thanks for the heads up.

Jenre said...

Now you're all out of sync with the rest of the world.

Nothing new there then :). Got told off on Twitter yesterday cos I didn't know who John Stamos was.

Tam said...

That was a bit sad Jen. Uncle Jessie? Really? LOL

Janna said...

I'm a goner for books with proceeds going to a good cause and these stories sound cute. :)

Tam said...

It's always nice when you know your money is doing some good in the world Janna.

So far between the ones I've read and the ones I've seen reviewed at Wave's there seem to be some good ones.

Anonymous said...

Dear Tam - Thanks very much for the kind words about How Did I Lose My Passport? I had fun writing about Van and Michael - wish I had a boss like him. :>)

JM Cartwright

Tam said...

Thanks for stopping by JM. Van reminded me of a couple of professors I worked with years ago at a university. Not quite that bad but close. Michael might be a bit intense for me. :-)

Anonymous said...

You just need to get to know him. Maybe that's a cue for me to write a bit more about this dynamic duo. *grins*

Tam said...

Now there's an idea JM. :-) I love to inspire.

Tracy said...

Some of these sound really good - the Of Sound Mind especially. Thanks for the mini reviews.

Tam said...

I really enjoyed that one Tracy. It had a lot of emotion.