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


Monday, September 20, 2010

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.

18 comments:

Chris said...

I really liked that short by Anne Brooke.

And Sam definitely needed to get away from Hector for a while - things were not going to end well as they were going.

There's a Sam & Hector short in Toy Box: Public Places...

Anonymous said...

I'm glad Personal Demons worked for you. I still have to read the shorts about Ophir.

Tam said...

I have that one in my TBR Chris. I think that might have been why I got it. LOL

Oh yes, I'll have to search that one out Eyre. It was a good series that nicely wove in the paranormal aspect.

DC Juris said...

Thanks for the nice review! I appreciate it! :-)

Average Reader said...

I'm definitely going to pick up Anne's story!

Lily said...

I totally agree with you about Hector being an ass in this one. Still, a good ending to the series.

I've got Tommy's Blind Date on my Reader and looking forward to reading it. The other two I've not heard about.

Happy Day after Monday, Tam!! :)

Jenre said...

I seem to be reading quite a lot of friends to lovers stories recently (I'm in the middle of reading one at the moment). I like the theme so I think I'll add the last three to my TBR pile.

I still have the first Chaos Magic book in my TBR pile so I'm waiting to see what I think of it before I commit to buying any more in the series.

Kris said...

Friends to lovers. One of my fave themes. :) Those two look great.

Tam said...

You're quite welcome DC.

There had to be some conflict Lily and it was nice that before it had seemed to be Sam that was mostly causing the issues so it was nice to see it not so one-sided. I think you'll enjoy Tommy.

Tam said...

It's amazing how themes seem to crop up in waves Jen, I'm sure it's purely coincidental but it makes you wonder.

I really enjoyed the Chaos Magic series but I agree, wait until you read the first until you commit. The first is quite angsty and I took some times between them as they are on the heavier BDSM side as well so I spread them out some.

Tam said...

It's a fun theme Kris. Hope you enjoy them.

Tam said...

I think you'll enjoy Anne's story Val.

Erotic Horizon said...

I have the series of the first book - between you Lily and Eyre - I was sold...

I have read a Kate Roman book before - not sure she stood out for me -- but I like your review of that book...

The last one sound good, yup - sold...

:)

Tam said...

I have only read one Kate Roman book before and it was okay. For a little friends to lovers story this one was quite well done I think.

Hope you enjoy Sam and Hector, although you'll want to slap both of them more than once and give Sam hugs too. :-)

Anne Brooke said...

Thanks for the kind words, Tam - much appreciated! :))

Anne
xxx

Tam said...

My pleasure Anne. It was a fun little read.

Tracy said...

Tommy's Blind Date sounds adorable! I'll have to put that one on my wish list. :)

Tam said...

I think you'll enjoy it Tracy. It was a fun read.