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


Sunday, September 18, 2011

Torquere Two

Ah. Sunday. I got some house cleaning done on my day off Friday. Not as much as I'd hoped but ... Anyone want to come and take care of my second floor? Sigh. No big plans for the weekend, I need to do some laundry and grocery shopping, but a quiet weekend for me. My kid was off at 7:45 this morning to watch a horse show with some friends, far too early to be up on a weekend. :-)

Three More Wishes by Sean Michael (230 pages)
Torquere Press

This is a follow up to Three Wishes which I didn't read, but it's essentially three men who run a "fantasy island" for BDSM fantasies. Each book is three stories of men who come to the island seeking a particular BDSM fantasy. Three men run the island, Guard, Damian and James, however I found myself wondering about the back story of the men as James is pushing away his lovers because he's in a wheel chair, but it's unclear what happened but Damian believes he's responsible.

The three stories are a man going blind whose intention is to commit suicide after this fantasy, however the man chosen to be with him is seeking someone to care for, and he fits the bill. The other is an author of thrillers who wants to try a kidnap/slave fantasy. However it doesn't go as well as he expects. The third is a Dom who wants to be a sub for 5 days to better understand what it's like and is shocked when he sees he knows the guy chosen to be his Dom for the week.

I really liked the first story, it was the longest of the three and I felt for Cameron whose ex actually helped him by the pills. Sheesh. Nice guy. The second story had me a bit on edge as the author was not coping well with the sex slave thing and FINALLY used his safeword. I wasn't sure exactly where that was going, but conveniently worked out. And the third was kind of cute as the Dom confessed he was in love with the wanna-be sub. I was curious though they both "trained" subs but he said he didn't want to date a sub. So the sex with subs is what, like your day job? I don't quite get that. This is a typical SM with LOTS of sex and at times I found myself skimming to get to the relationship resolution. There was some movement on the original trio, but I still would have liked to see more than a little intro and epilogue to know more about them and if they could work it out.

Cereus: Building by Julia Talbot, Sean Michael, BA Tortuga (190 pages)
Torquere Press

This is set in the world of the Blood Rose club where several short stories have been set by Julia Talbot. In this case, the original author has created a new resort location and then each author has written a story about a pairing within that world. I thought it was well done and they all merged in a fairly common voice and characters would spill over from one story to the other. The set-up is that a dragon, Daniel, asks Jonny to build an exclusive resort for paranormal creatures, mostly to protect his own lair because other dragons steer clear from humans.

The first story is werewolf Chayton who is a carpenter on the construction who is driven mad by interior designer Kenny. They are attracted but after sex Chayton pretty much accuses Kenny of being an incubus as he's a demon, so Kenny gets pissed. Eventually Chayton pulls his head out of his ass after a visit to his brother and he's very thrilled with Kenny's horns and tail and allows him to be himself without hiding it.

The next story is twincest. Cat shifters Marco and Stephan are the pastry chef and regular chef who are always fighting. Bar manager Faelan is fascinated with them and things are going well until during their shift on the full moon Faelan loses his head and attacks Marco and he has to get back in their good graces. These are typical twins, one naughty, one good, one more protective of the weaker more submissive brother. Nothing very different but they were cute.

The last one is dragon Daniel who sees BDSM master demon Zee. However Zee is all he-man alpha and Daniel just basically laughs at him, although secretly he wants it. I loved how Daniel make Zee crazy because he didn't cower in front of him and would egg him on. Also Daniel's self-consciousness about the fact he's rather small for a dragon was sweet, they were just a cute couple.

There will be more stories set at the resort as this story ends as they are just ready to open and lots of characters were dropped in who could have the potential for stories. Like most "anthologies" some couples will appeal more than others, but in this case you actually get a bit longer stories for some than in the shorts.

10 comments:

Jenre said...

Hmmm. They sound OK, but I'm not thinking of rushing off to read. I could do with a SM book to have on hand for when I'm after a bit of hot nonsense. Maybe the first one will fit the bill for that.

Tam said...

LOL That's a good description for it. They both kind of fall into that category, lots of sex in a pretty stereotypical setting which can be soothing when you need to escape for a bit.

Chris said...

Neither of those appeals to me...

So, your sidebar boy? Looks like maybe these were from the same fashion show, hmm?

Tam said...

They're not for everyone Chris. I did like the Cereus one and will likely check out future editions though.

Yep, it was. And I'm pretty sure cow-print assless chaps are all the rage for wearing to the office this fall. *eye roll*

Anonymous said...

I want someone to come clean for me. *whines*

I may read the first book someday. I'm still not feeling like reading anything, so neither book sounds appealing right now.

Tam said...

I couldn't take it any more Eyre. It took me all day and then some to do what someone with motivation would probably do in 2-3 hours but ... Better than nothing. Now I have to tackled the bedrooms and baths upstairs. We'll see if I can get them clean before it's time to start on the main floor again. LOL

Hope you get your reading mojo back. I've gone through some periods like that. It's kind of weird, but usually passes eventually.

K. Z. Snow said...

Hey, at least you can clean what you want when you want. JLA thinks I should take a toothbrush to all the little seams around the kitchen. I gaped at him then burst out laughing.

"Seriously?" I said in disbelief. "You want me spend a day toothbrushing the fucking kitchen?"

What guy wants stuff like that? Wait, I know the answer: one who's getting too old for sex.

Damn. And then I had to be tormented by seeing Ashton Kutcher naked on "Two and a Half Men." *sigh*

Tam said...

Ha! I wold be handing him the toothbrush and saying "Have at it sweetheart, let me know when you're done." Men. *shakes head*

Julia said...

SM didn't write the twins story, hon. That was BA Tortuga. Sean wrote the dragon

Tam said...

Well crap. My bad. Thanks Julia I'll correct that.