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


Saturday, October 1, 2011

Saturday Update

So our Indian Summer is over. When from 30C with the humidex on Wednesday and to about 9C today. Brrrrr. Kind of gray and damp too. Oh well. No big plans for the weekend. Try and get laundry and some stuff done up as we leave Thursday morning for New York. Ack! It really snuck up on me. Looking forward to seeing Kris and the guys in New York though. Hopefully it will be nice weather. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Just Like Cats & Dogs by BA Tortuga (200 pages)
Torquere Press

This is a shifter story with a bit of a different feel. Sam is a cat shifter who was adopted by a wolf family. In fact they are a bit of an odd-ball family. His one older brother is blind, his older sister can't shift but things were particularly hard for Sam growing up. He was forced to be locked up during the moon shift because the other wolves in the pack would attack him. Growing up, Gus was Sam's best friend's older brother who delighted in making Sam's life hell. However when Sam comes home for his father's funeral, Gus is in for a surprise. Sam is now a very successful choreographer and he's not taking any crap. They happen to run into each other months later and the attraction is strong but cats and dogs can't be together so they move on, until they run into each other again and finally admit they are mates, however the cats in the city Sam lives in hate Sam because he smells like wolf and decide to make him pay. Gus manages to get him rescued and they need to work out where their life will go from there. What was different is the shifters still have many animal traits while in human form. Most shifters are completely human, but Sam would go nuts when Gus would scratch his lower back like a cat and Gus loved having his ears scratched and they made animal sounds, purred, etc. in human form. I liked seeing a more animalistic human. Also after Sam is attacked, he's injured very badly and there is no magical shifter healing, he's permanently damaged for life. No easy solutions. But while Gus started out as a total asshole, the way he treated Sam when he was injured and at the end made me fall totally in love with him. So for a little different look at shifters, it was a good read that I quite enjoyed.

Slow Bloom by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox (490 pages)
Torquere Press

I believe this story was originally a serial and should probably have tripped one of my major squick buttons, HUGE age gaps but it worked. Go figure. Ricky is 19 and looking after his reclusive neighbours yard for the summer. He's been crushing on 47 year old Jack and one day he ends up making a move. They spend the summer having sex but no strings. Jack has his own baggage as he used to be a dom who had things go badly when he couldn't take the pressure of keeping up the mask he felt he had to wear. He's now cautious. This story takes place over about a year and while Ricky goes back to University they continue to chat and see each other periodically, gradually growing closer. When Ricky comes home the next summer he finally confesses to his parents and his mother does NOT take it well, but his father is supportive. I thought his father was great. It's hard to summarize because its nearly 500 pages, but even though they often mention how old Jack is, it didn't bother me, maybe because I didn't feel even at the end that it was necessarily a forever thing, especial Jack knew that, maybe in 10 years they'd go their separate ways, who knows. I did find I was skimming the sex at the end so I could get to the plot part. I realize that there was a lot of sex because each month it was released there was probably a sex scene but when you string them all together it got a bit much. Ricky and Jack were hot and sexy and I loved how Jack would try things with Ricky he never did before and wanted to make him happy and how Ricky changed Jack's crabby ways. If you don't like sex with other people once they hook up this could be an issue as they are not exclusive that first year, but it fit with their relationship and I enjoyed it.


17 comments:

Average Reader said...

Whoa, I think my comment just disappeared into hyperspace. Just saying that Indian summer is still going on where I am, but our turtles are starting to disappear as they hibernate!

Tam said...

For us it's the geese and ducks flying south. I live near several large open fields and it's actually kind of creepy when you see nearly 1000 geese all sitting there. If they all decided to attack? You just never know. LOL

Chris said...

Huh, I had no idea that Slow Bloom was originally a serial - it should've squicked me with the age difference, too, but it didn't.

We had the cold again a couple days ago, but it's supposed to be nearly 80F again by Monday - so don't give up yet!

Tam said...

It's something that Torquere used to do. I don't think they do anymore. Maybe it was because they didn't pretend the age wasn't an issue? I have no clue but it seemed to work.

Well, it is October in Canada. I think I have to face the facts.

K. Z. Snow said...

You're probably getting tail end of the crap weather we had recently. Today, though, is a perfect fall day. Don't despair; there's some Indian Summer left to come!

I wonder where Val's turtles go when they hibernate. I suppose she won't come back and tell us. :(

Tam said...

We're in New York with Kris next weekend so I just want it to be warmer there. Well, at least not rainy.

I think the turtles bury themselves in the mud. Not certain though.

Anonymous said...

I read Slow Bloom when it was on ToTS. I loved it. Yeah, the age difference was huge, but the story kept me hooked.

Tam said...

Somehow they managed to make it work Eyre. I think that's a testament to the authors' skill.

Tracy said...

You're praying for warmer weather and I'm praying for cooler weather. lol It's been about 95F all this week and I want COOL! lol

That shifter story sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.

Yes, Slow Bloom should have squicked most of us out with the age difference but it just didn't. The authors made it work so well. And they didn't rush it. Of course now that I know it was a serial at one point the massive amounts of sex make so much more sense! lol It was really great, glad you enjoyed it too.

Tam said...

I had to turn my furnace on this morning. It was freezing in the house. LOL

The sex makes sense for a monthly serial, you look forward to your monthly dose, but when you read it chapter after chapter I just wanted more focus on how the relationship was changing, but given what it was, it was well done.

Kassa said...

I had to turn on the heat because it's definitely cold here. I'm looking forward to the warm weather in New Orleans. Here we come!

Tam said...

I just hope it's not snowing when I get back from New Orleans. That would be depressing. LOL I'm hoping i can drag some Southern heat back up north for a bit.

Chris said...

It's 79F here right now! And gloriously sunny. Supposed to have highs in the mid to upper 70s through next Saturday. Maybe it'll head your way, Tam.

Janna said...

Snowing? That bad? Let's hope not. :)
Temperatures here are very nice, not as hot as in New Orleans but still nice.
Slow Bloom is on my ereader but the age difference kept me from reading it, and I'm not too sure about the sex with third persons either...

Tam said...

The age thing kind of scared me off as well, but once I got into it I was fine. Not sure why, it just worked. The other people made sense. They made no commitments to even see each other again, it was just a few weeks of fun and the older man never expected more than that and 19 year olds tend not to think that far ahead. It's worth a read when you get in the mood.

No snow yet, but it's cold and wet today. Ugh.

Michelle M. said...

The only reason I know that it's fall out here are the Christmas decorations in the store.
I'm jealous about your New York trip. Make sure you take lots of pictures!

Tam said...

Seriously? Christmas already. The world is turned upside down.

I will be sure to take pics. Wish you guys could be with us.