Finally Friday.

Yay the weekend. Work was awful this week. How bad? The stress triggered a cold sore. Grrrr. Right before vacation. Great, just what I need. It's going to be a very long year. Anyway, I went shopping today, bad me, bad me. Sigh. But I NEEDED those books. So I've done a bit more reading.

Dance with a Vampire by Fabian Black (7 pages)
All Romance E-books

This is actually a freebie at ARe. A young man is going to a club on Halloween with his date. The bouncer won't let him in because he doesn't turn 21 until the next day, midnight technically. He hangs around harassing the guy. When he still won't let him in, he leaves in a pique and ends up being rescued from getting mugged by the bouncer. He's even more pissed when he finds out the age for he club is 18, but it seems the bouncer has his sights set on him. It's a D/s story and there are no names. It's very poetic, I guess is the way of describing it, not really my prose style, but not a bad little short and you can't beat the price.

Model Student by Shae Connor (70 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Aaron is a film student who supports himself by modeling. One day on a shoot he's introduced to Matt who's doing a journalism thesis and wants to use Aaron as an example of a model/student. There's an instant attraction and they start to get to know each other. Things are going well and virgin Aaron finally believes he's found 'the one', when a secret Matt was keeping from him crops up, and sends them both spinning into dealing with crap from their pasts and old negative behaviours. I like stories with young guys and to be honest, these guys seemed young. I don't mean that negatively necessarily but they reminded me of teenagers (both 20), falling in love easily, kind of idealized ideas about love and sex. The problems didn't drag on too long so I wasn't too frustrated with them. It's the first story I've read by the author and I would definitely try more. I liked both guys and the style. Maybe a bit light and fluffy for some but I loved the last sentence. Very cute.

Strawberries for Dessert by Marie Sexton (229 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

I read this awhile ago and kept forgetting to post. Not that it's forgettable. Just my brain failing. This is a continuation of the Promises series with Jared's casual fling Cole and and his ex Jonathan. Jared suggests the two get together and Cole is as flamboyant as they come. I'm surprised he doesn't wear a feather boa at all times. He is totally not workaholic Jonathan's type, but Cole is very clear he's only looking for some fun, travels a lot and has men all around the world. That works for Jonathan, until he starts to get more deeply attached and yet he's embarrassed by Cole's flamboyance and it causes friction for them. When Cole finally proposes more, which would mean Jonathan giving up his job and being a 'kept man' for multi-millionaire Cole, it could spell the end of their relationship. I love swishy flamboyant characters so I adored Cole, and you just know there's something more going on under that designer clothes surface and fey image. I did want to kick both of them really a few times for being afraid to say they wanted more than fuck-buddy status, but I liked Jonathan's Dad, who while not really "getting it" tried his best and offered some sage advice. Jonathan's next door neighbor and friend was also great, I liked her a lot. A nice continuation of the series although I've yet to read book 3, this is 4. You don't NEED to read the others to enjoy this one though.

October: Trick of Silver by Jamie Craig (122 pages)
Amber Quill

Darren works for the Argenti, a group who hunt down werewolves. He's tasked to take out one of the most powerful ones at a Halloween party, whom they suspect of killing several people. However, Aden KNOWS there's someone there to take him down, and he also knows someone is setting him up and he's determined to find out who. Darren is thrown when Aden reveals him as the assassin within minutes, and despite his better judgment is willing to give Aden a chance to prove his theory. When it seems Darren is being also set-up by his own people, they have to decide what to do about it and the raging hormones they have going between them. If you like your sex rough, gritty and lube-free this is the book for you. It's acknowledged that it's lube-free and Darren likes it rough, and doesn't get overly grossed out by having sex with a guy covered in someone else's blood. I thought Darren seemed a bit too willing to give Aden a chance given his "job" was hunting werewolves, but I did enjoy it. There is a follow-up, On the Ragged Edge of the World which I'll get to shortly. I hope, because I'd like to see what happens next now that Darren is on the Argenti shit list.