Monday ... blech

I am so not a fan of Mondays. Sigh. It should be Saturday all the time. :-) Or I need to win the lottery. Then I might not mind Monday. I managed to do a bit of reading on the weekend, mostly shorts but reading is reading.

Personal Demons by Jay Lygon (183 pages)
Torquere Books

This is book 3 in the Sam and Hector saga (one, two). Things are going pretty well for them, not perfect and Hector's had a few freak-outs, but Sam is doing well at work and even gets to go to the Venice Film Festival. There he runs into Alberto who is the god of fame. Sam, in his usual obliviousness is a "nice guy" and ends up more famous than he wants which only leads to more jealousy and when Hector humiliates him at a Hollywood party Sam calls the relationship quits. It takes some counseling by Hector's friend Ophir and Hector finally "getting it" for things to change. I wasn't quite as annoyed with Sam this time. He was still pretty naive but not quite so bad and Hector was being an ass. Although how Sam didn't call in some god favours to deal with Alberto is beyond me. It was a satisfying end to the series and I wasn't quite as freaked on Sam's behalf as in some of the others.

Tommy's Blind Date by Anne Booke (29 pages)
Amber Allure

Tommy's been on some loser blind dates and is regaling his friend Jacob with the tales of his last one. Jacob suggests they go on a blind date (acting) and he can tell Tommy what he'd doing wrong. Tommy is in for quite a surprise when the character Jacob plays on their date makes him realize he needs to reassess his friendship and what he wants out of it. There is lots of humour in this story as Tommy tells about his dates and as he deals with this new Jacob he's unfamiliar with, but also a few more serious undercurrents. A cute little read.

Red Hot by Kate Roman (26 pages)
Torquere Books

Zack is getting ready to go to a party with his gay roommate and friend Corey. He recently broke up with his girlfriend, but he's realized that Corey is more his style. However Corey is determined to get his straight friend laid and gives him a new red shirt which he's sure is the ticket. Despite Corey throwing every hot chick at the party his way, Zack's not into it and eventually heads home figuring he'll find Corey with a date, but he's home alone and concerned Zach is upset with him. It's a steamy friends to lovers story that I enjoyed.

Serge's Gift by DC Juris (? pages - html file, no pages)
Torquere Books

Bryan is on his way to see an oncologist to find out if he has cancer. His friend Serge, a vampire, is going with him. Despite both being gay and Bryan being attracted, Serge only dates other vampires. When they find out there isn't much hope for Bryan, Serge decides to turn him into a vampire rather than see him die. The rest of the story is Bryan dealing with death, one way or the other, and Serge revealing his feelings. Huh. Another friends to lovers. Just noticed. It's all done from Bryan's perspective so you only get his view and it's present tense. It always takes me a while to get into that, but once I do it's not bad. I felt for Bryan, facing death, being only 33 and not ready. I enjoyed it once I got into the tense thing. It's amazing how your brain tends to want to read in past tense and you have to break it of the habit.