I'm moving on

So I finally got fed up with Blogger. It's been good to me, I'll give it that, but since Google has suddenly started insisting that users must use Google Chrome (or at least Firefox) in order for it to function properly, blogging has become more complicated. You can't access it at all for editing through IE and while everyone will say "don't use IE", I don't have an option for 8-9 hours a day.

So I've set up a new blog over at Wordpress. I've changed my name a bit. I'm no longer Tam's Reads, but

I wanted something that takes into account my writing and the fact that sometimes I just yammer about nothing much at all. Just click on the little banner.

I hope all my followers will add the new URL to their feeds. The URL has changed in order to accommodate a new name. It's just http://cdntam.com. I wish I could have used my name, but Tamames  is a region in Spain, so it's rather taken. :-) So since Cdn_Tam is usually the other moniker I use, I decided to go with that. There is a link to the RSS feed and to receive notification by e-mail at the bottom of my sidebar, so hopefully it will be easy and Good Reader will let you add WP blogs to follow.

This blog will remain here for the foreseeable future. But this will be the last post, except for possible reminder post for those who might have missed it in their reader feed. I have transferred over all of the posts and comments (I hope - the last couple may not have made it). Of course my hottie of the day is coming with me, along with blog rolls.

If you have me on your own blog roll, I'd appreciate it if you could switch over the address to the new one. I don't really care too much if you change the title, it's up to you.

I think that's it. I want to thank everyone who's been with me on the fun ride here on Blogger as I figured out what blogging was all about and as I developed and changed over the last nearly two years. Hope to see you at my new place.

Raven's Mark by Jade Archer

Title: Raven's Mark (Sandpipers #2)
Author: Jade Archer
Length: 198 pages
Publisher: Total-e-Bound

Blurb: Sometimes the strength to fight the past lies in the love and friendship of the present.

Mark Carter has taken care of himself and those around him since he was a teenager. But with his younger brother and sister now packed off to college, he finds himself suddenly alone. Throwing everything he has into his new position at Sandpipers Restaurant leaves little time for anything else. And that’s just fine by Mark. Then Raven stumbles into his life and everything changes. Mark can’t help wanting to know more about the mysterious man. Which is easier said than done. Raven is painfully shy, a single parent and stutters, especially when he’s nervous. But Mark is determined to get to know the warm, intelligent man he glimpses beneath the quiet exterior. The question is, will Raven let him?

Raven finally has a chance to start again. He’s determined to put the past behind him and do whatever it takes to create a normal life for his young son, Ryan. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds. He doesn’t have much acquaintance with ‘normal’, and the past has a way on intruding on the present no matter how hard he tries to escape it. Can he trust Mark with his secrets? And more importantly, should he?

Review:  I was lucky enough to have one the first book in this series which is m/m/m and the story of Lark, Zak and Brody who run the Sandpipers Restaurant. This book sort of overlaps the end. Raven is the single parent of one of Brody's little brother's preschool friends. The three have kind of taken Raven under their wing, but he's extremely skittish, has a stutter and panic attacks, however he's starting fresh with his son. Mark is the new head chef who is instantly fascinated by Raven. Mark raised his own twin siblings when his parents died, so he has no problem with the kid issue, nor does he care about Raven's PTSD or stuttering. They start out slow and things are going well until Raven has a bad panic attack and pushes Mark away. They finally get back on track and Raven's ex (mother of Ryan) shows up to case more mayhem, and Raven pushes Mark away. 

While that might seem like eye roll worthy, it didn't come across that way. Raven has been beaten down (in all senses) and his reactions were understandable. Luckily pushy Lark was there to help them work it out most of the time. What was also nice is that while at first Mark comes across as Mr. Perfect and in control, he's not quite so perfect. He's got OCD type control issues and later when confronted, maybe has a bit of a saviour complex as well. So while he's not in as rough shape as Raven, he's not so perfect as to make him annoying.


Also so many times I wanted to slap my hand over Mark's mouth and just tell him to shut up. LOL He assumes Raven has been abused based on his behaviour, and yet the first time he sees burn scars on his chest he goes (paraphrasing) "OMG, What happened?" Right, like the guy is just going to open up now. So again, it was kind of nice to see him screw up and not be Raven's saviour. In the end Raven had to stand up for his son and do the right thing, with the support of his friends. 


I also appreciated that this was not a magical healing dick story. It took weeks and weeks before they even kissed and having sex did not make it all better, in fact it made it worse for a time. The epilogue is many months later and Raven is starting therapy for his issue and while he's better, he's still got a stutter and he still has PTSD issues, so I like when that kind of realism is there. Nothing worse than having disability disappear so that both heroes can be "perfect". I really enjoy this story and there were a few emotional moments, but some cute ones as well. I was happy to see the guys get their HEA even if it wasn't "normal".


There appears to be a set-up for a third story with Dave and Andy, kitchen workers assumed to be friends, when one of them quits suddenly at the end. My only concern, is that they kept making reference to both of them flirting with Jaime, a waitress so, nothing personal author, I just hope there aren't any lady bits involved in their story. LOL Call me a purist, all dick, all the time. :-)

Follow My Adventures - Guest Posting

Today I am at Clare London's blog as part of her month long birthday celebration. Stop by and say hi and read all about my exciting Ikea experience. :-) Most of us have had one.  Just click on the pic below.

Happy Birthday month Clare. Hope it's a great one.

Bite me!

Well, maybe I'll bite you. ;-) Stop by Brief Encounters Reviews this week where we are celebrating those sexy undead heroes of m/m. Cole and Ruby are doing duelling reviews of Jordan Castillo Prices Channeling Morpheus series and there will be a give away of the entire 5-pack if you comment on one of the two posts with Jordan's interview. We will also be reviewing a few other vamp short stories, so stop by and say hi. We don't bite ... unless you ask nicely. :-D Just click on my little fanged guy below to join the fun.

Shying Away by Kate Sherwood

Title: Shying Away
Author: Kate Sherwood
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: 240 pages


Blurb: Quinn Donahue will do anyone once, so when Aaron Miller spots Quinn making his moves in a Vancouver gay bar, Aaron thinks he's found just the guy to relieve him of his unwanted virginity. Quinn, however, has apparently decided to make an exception to his usual open-bed policy. He may be an unrepentant connoisseur of one-night stands, but he's not going to disappoint a sweet kid like Aaron by giving him a hot night and then leaving while the sheets are still warm.

After Quinn takes a job at Aaron's family horse farm, Aaron spots both the demons and the decency that drive Quinn's frequent brush-offs, and it makes Aaron want him even more. But Quinn is determined that Aaron won't go home with a man who doesn't deserve him, so he starts sending likely candidates Aaron's way. It takes a grim act of sacrifice for Aaron to realize exactly why Quinn's been so skittish, and he’ll have to keep a firm grip on the man of his dreams to keep Quinn from shying away.

Review:

I picked up this story because I reviewed the sequel New Tricks at BER and was curious about how the couple got together.  Quinn is a party boy who one night picks up Aaron at the bar. However it soon becomes clear that Aaron is a virgin and Quinn's not getting involved in that, however Aaron is hooked and looking for him. No amount of rebuffing seems to put him off the pursuit. When the bartender mentions a job working at a farm, Quinn applies, only to find it's Aaron's family farm, where Aaron gives riding lessons. To his surprise he gets the job and it seems Aaron is not the only one who takes a liking to him, Aaron's brother and mother both take to subtly pushing them together and bring Quinn into the family fold despite his protests. 

Quinn has issues, big issues. It turns out he had a twin brother who committed suicide and Quinn holds himself responsible, and was rather spiraling down into drugs and booze so his parents told him to leave and he did. And never went back. He still feels Aaron should find a nice boyfriend, not him, and Aaron tries but it doesn't really work. When Aaron's father starts digging he finds that Quinn's parents did file a missing persons report, and since Quinn finally reported the guy who beat and raped him, it opens the file bring his super rich family down on him just when he's decided to give him and Aaron a chance. 

I have to say I was really annoyed with Aaron's father and then his mother for pushing things. Why does everyone thing if you don't have a perfect storybook relationship with family there is something that needs to be fixed? They didn't know anything about it but started sticking their nose in. Maybe it wasn't all that bad, but the point was he was 29 years old, not a 19 year old kid. Still, I appreciated Aaron's pursuit, and how he'd try different things, backing off, pushing, it was like a puzzle he just had to figure out. I also loved Aaron's big brother Danny who was perfectly comfortable with Aaron and Quinn being gay and just wanted them to be happy. It was nice to have a supportive sibling who didn't interfere but was there for advice. 

So I'm glad I read this one. Quinn is pretty screwed up, but maybe Aaron can help him get his head on straight and the sequel was very cute and touching as well with a playful side.  

Guest Movie Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Today I have a guest movie review from "The Kid", aka my daughter. I did not go to see this movie last week with her and a friend, but I know lots of people have enjoyed the books so I asked her to do a review for me. I've been told it's totally a fangurl squee, so be warned.

Mikael Blomkvist might have been portrayed by Bond actor Daniel Craig, but he was certainly not the famous 007 in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Craig was a different man, both in character and appearance. He was Blomkvist, a man caught in legal dispute after the publication of his accusatory news paper article, who stumbled into a way out of the media attention. The way was through Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plumber), an old Swedish businessman seeking help with his memoirs (code for find out what happened to my missing and more than likely dead niece). Needing rest from the public eye, Blomkvist accepted the challenge, unaware of the deceitful past of the Vanger family; their life filled of dark secrets, corruption and history of anti-Semitism.  

The main question still remains; where in this chain of writing and investigations does the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisabeth Salander (Rooney Mara) fit into the picture? Here: when Blomkvist reaches a roadblock in researching the alleged death of Harriet Vanger. Requesting an assistant in the case, the company suggests their best agent, Salander, who already knows her fair share about Blomkvist (having researched his background check earlier). Abandoned at age 10, traveling from foster-home to foster-home, Salander had been on her own for most of her life. A history of drugs, violence and being warranted as insane by the state, Salander was strange; but nonetheless a genius.

Teamed together, Blomkvist and Salander discover a link to a series of serial murders in Sweden to the missing Vanger girl. Flipping page by page through Leviticus the code is cracked, Harriet wasn’t a victim she too was a detective caught up in more than she bargained for. A similar position both Salander and Blomkvist find themselves in after discovering the religious woman-killer. Bringing an answer to one of the many questions asked throughout the film, but not the most important one; what happened to Harriet?

If your heart wasn’t won over by the two minute animated oil intro, twisting and turning with vivid images of hands, eyes and bees. Then it surely was won in Lisabeth’s first appearance. Mara’s delivery, presence and presentation were all impeccable. Her verbal withdrawal from the scene was enticing and from that moment on, your heart had fallen for the obscurely beautiful woman.  If Mara hadn’t have played Lisabeth, the movie would have been far from phenomenal; her appearance and talent were far more suited for such an avant garde role compared to Natalie Portman, who was the original pick. In the devastating rape scene, Mara’s performance had one gaping at the mouth and feeling the true pain of Lisabeth herself. There was no doubt that Mara was talented, beautiful and powerful, but she can’t have all the credit (even if she was the best part of the show).

Opposite the daring motor cycle riding beauty was the man himself, Daniel Craig, deserving three rounds of applause for his impeccable acting job. His role as Blomkvist truly proved his versatile ability. Whether it was natural chemistry or just his great acting, the on screen pairing of Salander and Blomkvist was remarkable. Words cannot describe the emotional connection between the two both intellectually and physically. Though a truly unique and intertwined couple, the movie’s ending proved the blond always gets the man. Erika Berger (Robin Wright), gave us our first glimpse at the secret life of Blomkvist, but also gave you reason to despise her. Evidently using him for personal gain (and sex), Berger’s intentions were never for ‘them’ only for her, even if stated otherwise.

Together with the super star cast was a qualified production team and working under the master director David Fincher (responsible directing for film masterpieces such as Fight Club and The Social Network). Accompanying him was Fight Club and Social Network cinematographer, Jess Cronenworth, who helped provide the cutting edge ‘Fincher’ feel to the movie. Full credit is given to the spine chilling original score, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (also creating the award winning Social Network score). Together they’ve proven “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or in this case “if they still work, keep hiring them,” creating the stunning movie that may be regarded as some of Fincher’s best work.

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Really, I need her to write my reviews. She hasn't read the books so I can't say how the movie compares to the book though. Maybe some others who've done both can comment on that.

Movie Review (and more): The Artist

So last night I had a date … with my kid. But that’s okay, because we had fun. She asked me to go to a movie, which was playing very near my work, so she came downtown and we had dinner first. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant we’d never been too. We ended up having the combo platter for two. In an Ethiopian restaurant there are no utensils. You simply rip off a chunk of the bread and scoop it up. The bread is rather like a thick crepe and we each got samples of: beef, lamb, chicken (which came with boiled eggs), red lentils, yellow lentils, green lentils and a cabbage/carrot mixture. I particularly loved the beef, red lentils and cabbage. My daughter liked the lamb, chicken and red lentils. This is what the tray looked like. HUGE. And they brought more bread even though the meal was on 4 large pieces. We were stuffed and while it was a bit messy eating with fingers, it was fun and delicious. And cheap. It was $23 for that big plate of food along with sodas.

Then we went to get our movie tickets. Because the movie theatre is an independent one, known for showing obscure movies not released in theatres or foreign films, it’s not got a big lobby like a multi-plex. So we got our ticket and had to stand out in the cold in line. But not for very long. The theatre was quite full as it’s the only place it’s playing. The only downside was the woman next to me had on a very strong perfume. I didn’t care for it anyway, but combined with that movie theatre popcorn smell. Ugh. And since the theatre is old, that butter smell has probably been there for 40 years. LOL I think my daughter was by far the youngest person there. Most people seemed over 60. But she’s very interested in film (wants to take film studies) and was intrigued by the concept, so I was happy to go with her even if her friends weren’t.

Anyway, the movie. It is very different, and has been nominated for six Golden Globes and has won, or been nominated for, several other awards, with the male star Jean Dujardin winning best actor at Cannes.

The lead character, George Valentin, is a huge star of silent films. However when talkies come in, he wants nothing to do with it, sure that’s it’s a fad. However soon he’s out of work and a young woman Peppy, who was an extra in a movie with him, is the darling of the talking cinema, and he’s spiraling down into depression. His wife leaves him, the stock market crash leaves him broke, and he’s a legend in his own mind only now. However he keeps running into Peppy, who has been in love with him for years, but it’s fairly one-sided. When he has a breakdown, and nearly kills himself setting his apartment on fire, he finds out she’s been the one buying his memorabilia to help him out, which stings his pride.

So it’s a pretty standard story, it’s well done, but not spectacular. What is, is the way the story is told. His life is a silent movie. The entire movie is done as a silent movie, about silent movies. :-) It’s black and white, there is no speaking, only music, and you see the words on the screen as you would in a silent movie. It’s a very intriguing concept. You don’t realize how much you rely on words and tone to convey what is happening, until there are none. The actors use overly dramatic movements in those old movies because there was no other way to convey if you were angry or sad or surprised.

They also don’t script every word on the screen. You do a fair bit of lip reading, and just imaging it from context. They meet on a staircase, and you can tell she is really excited and crushing on him, and she’s babbling on and you have no clue what she’s saying, but you don’t need to know. You can tell how she’s feeling just from the action on the screen and the music. So it was very a very cool concept. Also near the end, there is about 90 seconds of absolute silence. No music, nothing. You don’t get that in a movie. Movies are like radio, dead air is to be feared. And it was very weird. Suddenly you hear EVERYTHING in the theatre and you become very aware of yourself. You only really get to hear sound for about 90 seconds at the end, when the lead actor finally says two words on-screen (with the cutest French accent).

So I think it was innovative, or innovative for 2012. The lead actor was really very good at portraying a man who went from the top of his game, to as low as he could go. The one thing though, he always loved his dog. The dog was adorable and starred in his movies with him. The girl playing Peppy was also very good, her loving him from a distance was not over-done, but you knew. She was his biggest cheerleader, even when he wasn’t interested in having a cheerleader and was happy to wallow in self-pity. As well, James Cromwell as the faithful driver, and John Goodman (who has lost some weight) as the producer, were nicely played. On the whole it was a fun time, there were laughs combined with the drama and the costumes and sets from the late 20’s and early 30’s were fun.

Definitely worth a chance to see, however I doubt it will be at any of the big multiplexes (unless it wins a Golden Globe or Academy Award). I’ve put a clip below so you can get a feel for what it was like. If you get the chance, I’d say go and see it.

Holiday Catch Up

So I'm still reading the odd holiday story. I do read holiday stories of all holidays year around so I'm sure these won't be the last.

Puppy, Car, and Snow by Amy Lane (90 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Blurb:  Ryan’s entire life changed the night Scott surprised him in a bathroom at a party.  Now Ryan’s soulless climb up the corporate ladder has stalled—but his quality life has become a whirlwind of laughter, joy and surprises, thanks to Scotty’s playful, gentle heart.

After three years together, they’re going to Ryan’s parents’ cabin to spend Christmas.  Snowed in by the weather and locked under the icy glare of his mother’s disapproval, can Ryan show he has found the most profound happiness in the simplest of things?

Review:  It should be noted that there are several stories with this couple and it took me a while to figure that out because there is no mention of those stories on the blurb page. You don't NEED to have read them, but once I figured out who they were (I have read the others), it made more sense.

Ryan's family were okay with him being gay, they're just not okay with Scott. Ryan's highly driven mother has no respect for anyone whose primary purpose in life is not to claw their way to the top of the corporate ladder, and Scott is the antithesis of this, and Ryan loves him exactly that way. He knows exactly how his mother feels and is not above putting her in her place when necessary, although, she's smart enough to generally not say anything too snarky in front of him, however when she really gives Scott hell for "free-loading" on Christmas eve and Ryan's BIL spills the beans, Ryan makes it very clear to everyone how important Scott is to him.

The part I loved most about this whole story was Ryan's (and Scott's) absolute adoration of the other. Too often the family manages to cause the one guy to basically freeze and he allows them to treat his partner badly, but Ryan didn't. He was going to protect Scott no matter what. He wasn't ashamed he loved him, they were caught making out many times and he didn't care. He would keep his man emotionally safe at all cost and I really respected that attitude. It's how it should be and it was very romantic how it all ended.

My one bit of confusion was the BIL. He went from apparent homo-phobic jerk to their biggest cheerleader over a couple of days. I wasn't sure if the homophobia shtick was an act and he just needed to get to know Scott, or he had an epiphany, or what. I kept wondering if he'd been hit on the head by a Christmas tree or something since he seems to do an abrupt 180 on the relationship between the men.

Still, it was an absolutely adorable story without being too sappy sugary. A perfect feel-good story, although I still thing Ryan's got a horrible mother, even if she started to thaw slightly at the end.

Miracle of the Bellskis by Astrid Amara (110 pages)
Loose Id

Blurb: Too much family…too little Egg Nog.
 
It’s been three years since Seth Bellski forced his boyfriend and ex-boss Lars Varga out of the closet. Since then, Seth has passed the bar and become an attorney, and Lars has started his own firm. Their sex life has gotten steamier, and everything seems perfect between them. Until the holidays arrive.

It’s bad enough that Seth’s mother and father want them over every single night of Hanukkah. And that Lars’s less-than-tolerant parents are sleeping in the room next door for the duration of Christmas, putting the kibosh on their kink. They also end up as the attorneys representing opposing sides in a divorce case, one which quickly proves to be much more than it seems.

Amidst Hanukkah candles, Christmas lights, burned dinners and delayed court appointments, Lars and Seth’s relationship is going to need a miracle to survive the ultimate holiday challenge of too much family.

Review: We might have switched holidays to Hanukkah, but I just realized we have a theme with a bit of a switch. While in the last book they didn't mind him being gay, they hated his partner, in this one they are freaked that he's gay, although not that freaked by his partner, if they knew him.

This is the sequel to Carol of the Bellskis (wow, that was 2009) which I adored even if I wasn't certain Lars was the right guy for Seth. But it's been three years and things are going well. He's totally supportive of Seth's new career as a lawyer, he's out of the closet and not afraid to treat Seth as he deserves to be treated. However Lars' parents are coming to spend the holiday, and by chance Christmas overlaps with Hanukkah and now that Seth's parents have moved to Seattle, they expect him and Lars to spend the holiday with them.

Lars parents are the ice king and queen, his father taking every chance to cut Lars down, while Seth tries to deal with his needy parents and by chance the two men end up on opposite sides of a very weird divorce case, which gets out of control ending up with Lars in jail for contempt. I love Seth, he is such a laid back guy, he loves to lay around and do nothing, whereas Lars is the opposite. I also loved that Seth stood up to Lars' Dad and didn't let him criticize him because he also was no longer on the corporate law fast track.

I really enjoy Astrid Amara's holiday stories and this was no exception. Lots of humorous moments and some more serious  and sweet ones. A nice holiday read that even though the holidays are over I still enjoyed.

My shoe fetish

When most women talk about their shoe fetish, the image that pops into your head is this:

But when I'm talking shoe fetish, it's ... something that looks like my front hallway to be honest.

I'm the one, drunk in the gay bar, with a naked boy dancing over my head, his junk blowing in the wind, while I pet his sneakers and declare how cute they are. (Gets you hugs later, don't knock it.) I would wear sneakers every day if I could and probably wear them more often than I really should. Red are my favourite.

So I've been collecting some pictures of sneakers and thought I'd share them with y'all, since I got nothing else going on. Back to the office after vacation, thankfully the -29C weather is moving off and I'm adjusting to real life. Hope everyone is having a great first week of January.

My fave colour but mine are lowtop.

 I had a pair of these, they wore out.

I have these but mine are cleaner. I don't look nearly as good wearing them either.

 Little too blue for me, but he wears them well. 

My daughter has these ones.

Maybe I need yellow ones?

And how about a little song about sneakers.

Connor's Journey, A Velvet Glove Story by Sean Michael

Title: Connor's Journey, a Velvet Glove Story
Author: Sean Michael
Length: 139 pages
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: m/m futuristic BDSM

Blurb:

Connor attends a friend's pre-commitment send-off at the Velvet Glove, and he knows he's out of place, but is determined to enjoy his one night among the rich. Then he meets Desmond, a regular member, who wants to show him everything about being a sub if he'll take a five year contract. It beats his old job, but can he do the things Desmond wants him to?

Originally published on the Turn of the Screw serial service, and in print in Velvet Glove, Volume 1.

Review:

This was written as a serial and has pretty much just been put together, including chapter headings.  For those not familiar with the Velvet Glove, it is a self-contained BDSM community/club set at some point in the future. Many people have apartments at the Velvet Glove and there are all kinds of services for the residents, most of them BDSM related. As the blurb notes, Connor is there for a friend's party, but he has no experience in BDSM at all, but the club part is pretty tame. However he's soon approached by Desmond and before Connor knows what hit him, he's getting a tour of the facility including seeing a whipping in progress and needless to say, he's a bit wigged out. So they head up to Desmond's apartment and within hours Desmond has gotten Connor to agree to a five year contract to be his sub, even though Connor has no clue what that entails. However Desmond "knows" that Connor will be a perfect sub.

The next several chapters chronicle Connor's adjustment to the lifestyle, including shopping for fancy clothes (Connor was a blue collar worker), learning about submission and pain and of course getting a tattoo and some piercings because what sub would be complete without them. There is also a commitment ceremony of his own as they soon discover they are made for each other and a collar appears.

There were some pretty obvious continuity errors. I even double checked and sure enough "they were both naked" and then ten minutes later he's undoing Desmond's pants. Umm. How did they get back on him? As well, Desmond has a rather odd method of speaking, rather formal and stilted and until he starts calling Connor, Lyum, he seems insistent on calling him by his first and last name. Connor Dean. It either kept annoying me as if his name was Billy Bob or something being called David Jones. "Come and sit by me David Jones." Huh? Connor always referred to himself just as Connor so I found it rather odd.

On the whole the BDSM is pretty light given that Connor is a newbie and Desmond doesn't want to freak him out too much. Connor's amazement at the life he now leads with perpetually rich Desmond was cute to observe, but the whole "I knew you were perfect for me the minute I saw you" thing kind of caused a bit of eye rolling. The BDSM equivalent of gaydar? There were a few cameos by other characters in the Velvet Glove universe, but none of them more than a fleeting glimpse save for the piercer/tattooist twins from Braided. I've not read too many of these stories, a few including Braided, but I'm not sure this was a must-read unless you are a real fan, but then most fans probably caught it the first time around.