Monday, Monday

I'm not a fan of Monday. Then again, who is? This is a crazy week for me at work. I'm in meetings/training for the next four days. Hopefully all will go well. I'll be off-line essentially though during the day for those days. Eeep! Withdrawal symptoms already. Had a pretty slow weekend, nothing too exciting happened, didn't get that much reading done. I've been working on something with Jenre that will be coming soon to a computer near you, so that was fun. (Aren't you curious now? Yes, we're evil. :-)

Hope everyone has a great week.

Splash by K.I.L. Kenny (100 pages)
Torquere Press

Alex has decided to spend a bit more time at his Grandfather’s farm over the fall and winter that he inherited before he sells it. He’s thinking of starting his own business and using the proceeds from the sale to finance it. There is a cow pond on the farm which he starts hanging out by and ACK!!! He sees eyes in the pond. Before long some hot guy comes shooting out and they’re getting their freak on. Alex is a bit weirded out, but finally determines that Jordan is something like a water sprite, I suppose, who was trapped in the pond when a river was redirected years ago. However Jordan is dying and Alex is determined to reunite him with the river and save him before winter falls. This was an interesting premise and I think I was as confused as Alex by what Jordan was exactly, but Jordan’s not sure exactly either. My one concern was the ending. It’s not a HEA or even a HFN, I don’t think. Can you live HEA with a water sprite who is frozen in the pond all winter? Will Jordan be that crazy old man who lives down the road raising Alpacas? I enjoyed the descriptions of Jordan and some of the conundrums Alex had to live with though.

Oh yeah and my other niggle, Jordan was well known to Alex’s grandfather and great-grandfather. Since Jordan takes to the buttsecks like a pro, was he with the Grandpas too? I’m getting my squick on here. That’s a big bugaboo for me, the sharing of lovers in families (not counting twins LOL). It doesn’t SAY they did, but you have to wonder, unless Jordan just KNEW Alex was gay. Anyway, that’s my issue, not the author’s.

Not Alone by Sonja Spencer (72 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Andy has moved to a small town to his uncle’s cabin he inherited (huh, two inherited rustic homes books) and he’s going to write a novel. He runs across Eddie, a local divorced with two kids business owner and on impulse invites him to dinner. He’s very up front with Eddie, he’s gay, Eddie’s not (or isssss he?) but they become friends. Andy teases a lot and exposes Eddie to gay porn, sex toys, etc. Eddie has self-esteem issues as his ex basically told him he was mutantly large “down there” and wasn’t really attracted to him. As the friendship grows, Andy realizes he’s falling for his friend and Eddie’s not sure quite what he feels for Andy. Finally after a botched night out, Andy confesses, and Eddie more or less agrees and hey, Andy’s a size queen it seems, so all is good. The end.

Ack! What? How can it be the end? What about Eddie’s ex whom he said would not take it well if one of his girls was gay? What about the small town they live in where the suddenly straight grocer goes gay? The last line is “We’re not alone anymore.” Umm. Is that the only reason you’re with him? Being gay is better than being alone? Not really, I know he liked Andy, but it seemed like of like “There’s no one else around so what the heck.” Anyway, I just wanted to see more, how this was all going to work. Although I have to say their interactions were very funny, the cucumber innuendo was hilarious and Eddie was very open to the sexual flirting and sexual teasing, more so than most straight guys, which is the point I suppose. So not a bad read, I enjoyed many aspects of it, I just thought it ended when there was the potential for a lot more of their story. Maybe it’s coming later.

Seducing C.C. by Ariel Tachna (192 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Roger (aka Astro) is taking the summer to get over his cheating ex and work at an all girls summer camp. At least he won’t have to deal with guys. Ooops, except paramedic CC with whom he shares a tent. He’s sure CC is straight until he catches him picking up a quickie in the bar. Now he’s doubly pissed, because he’s attracted but isn’t into casual sex or guys who are. The two of them dance around their attraction and when they finally get together Astro is determined to show CC that a relationship would be a good thing. There is a LOT of description of the camp. What they do, the orientation, the whole group going camping, doing the rope course and rappelling, interacting with the kids. I’ve never gone to camp, but I feel like I have now. In a way it was too much for me. I didn’t really want to read about singing around the campfire and making smores more than once. I liked that they went slow in the relationship once they decided to try, and I really liked Astro’s friendship with Sprite, one of the female counsellors who was also getting over a cheating ex, but I found myself skimming over some of the descriptions of camp life to get to the relationship between the two guys. I also found Astro’s negative attitude toward anyone who had casual sex a bit annoying. Casual sex between two single people doesn't equal cheating bastard. *shrug* I guess judgemental people annoy me.