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


Friday, April 16, 2010

The people have spoken!

So my next book to read will be M. Jules Aedin's Windows in Time. Now I've heard nothing but amazing things about this book so I have no clue why it's been in my TBR for months and months but obviously something held me back, but y'all have kick-started me into reading it.

Last night I read a couple of stories in the A Brush of Wings anthology and maybe what I'll do is quickly review them as I go along (I'm going to try and do the anthology thing a bit at a time which I've not been very successful in the past at doing). It's HUGE so trying to summarize the whole book I think would tip me over the edge.

Also stop by Lily's today and see the beautiful cookie video she made. Really gorgeous. She's so good at that.

Wren is at Three Dollar Bill Reviews today talking about why she writes and reads gay literature. Interesting perspective from Wren so stop by and give your two cents.

Wave also has a fun piece on alpha heroes. Go and tell us who your favourite fictional manly man is.

Morning Glow by Taylor Lockland (21 pages)
Trail of Feathers by Sarah Ann Watts (10 pages)
Heart's Salvation by RĂ©ve Garrison (22 pages)


All three stories are about angels who come to the aid of humans as they go through an emotional upheaval, the first a relationship break-up, the other two the deaths of their partners.

Morning Glow - Alan (the angel) always shows up in Benjamin's life when he's having a tough time then leaves. This time Benjamin realizes he's in love and is devastated when Alan has to leave and decides to follow him to Cleveland even though he knows the odds of finding him are small. And trust me, the odds of finding anything in Cleveland are small, their signage sucks. I couldn't even find the mall. Anyway, my heart broke for Ben when Alan left him again. *sniffle* Very nicely done story.

Trail of Feathers - New Year's Day morning Daniel is heading home alone when he runs into a young man, Leo, gathering up feathers outside the church. Leo invites him for coffee and "more". Daniel is still mourning his partner's death but feels compelled to do it. The style of this is very mystical and dreamlike. Daniel is kind of dazed and doing stuff but he's reserved and, I don't know. It's very what I call prosey, when a character thinks like this: When I come I cry out, and my cracked heart breaks open and bleeds. He holds me and takes me from the dark place where I am lost, and then he places his hand where I can feel the tear in my heart and says, “No looking back.” It's just a little too flowery for me but probably works for others.

Heart's Salvation - Aris is an angel who lives in a statue. When Nathanial comes to him heartbroken about the death of his wife and daughter he is compelled to take human form and stop Nathanial from committing suicide. He becomes so attached he asks to become human. Nathanial quickly takes him into his house and heart. Umm. I found it a bit "religious" for my taste and while Nathanial had had relationships with men I thought he took to the idea of not only a gay relationship but that Aris was/had been an angel pretty well. Oh and please don't use baby oil and condoms. Not good.

So it started out strong for me and tapered off a bit but there are 12 more to go and I think taking a break will be good because of the similar themes. It would be a shame to not give #9-12 a proper appreciation because of burn-out and not their quality.

18 comments:

Average Reader said...

The People have spoken! Okay, sounds good. I'll be looking forward to your review. I've got to get into gear and read that one myself, especially since I help to vote it into the chosen position. :)

Tam said...

Okay, if for some reason I hate it you can say "Not my fault, I haven't read it either." LOL

wren boudreau said...

I love the democratic society you've built here, Tam.

Thanks for link to Three Dollar Bills!

The Angel Anthology. Hmm. Just not my cuppa. I like my angels all alpha and warrior-like. And featured in a full-length book. Are there angels in Cirque du gay?

Tam said...

Not real ones, but acrobats can do some freaking angelic things up high. The idea is percolating and getting bigger. I'm a bit overwhelmed.

There may be more warrior-like angels later on in the anthology, I'm not sure, but the first three were more "traditional".

I'm all about democracy and freedom Wren, unless you guys start doing things I don't like then martial law comes into effect. :-)

Jenre said...

And trust me, the odds of finding anything in Cleveland are small, their signage sucks. LOL, Tam that made me laugh!

I pretty much agree with your assessment of the stories so far. There are a few good ones a bit later. I'm about half way through and doing what you are - reading 2/3 stories at a time.

Tam said...

I can imagine if the theme of angels helping hurting humans is consistent it could get a bit annoying reading them all at once and by the end, even if the story would be great, you'd be kind of bored and over it. So maybe I'll post a few stories every Friday. I'll find some angel boys to post with them although I do love the cover.

Lily said...

Lol, I totally agree about Cleveland. And btw, is Cleveland Angel central?

The second does sound a bit too much.

Thanks for the mention. Although while I've done videos before I can't take the credit for this one. I found it but didn't actually make it. It is pretty though.

Erotic Horizon said...

I hope you enjoy the book - I voted for Geography of Murder.... Looking forward to your thoughts when you read that one..

I also only read 2-3 stories at a time in any anthology... good that you are slogging through though..

I'll read your thoughts on it - I find I am so over angels and demons... sqick me out a bit to be honest...

Happy weekend hon...

E.H>

Tam said...

In this case Cleveland just happened to be where he had to go next to help someone Lily.

I'm just not that into the poetic type of writing but I know some people love it.

Tam said...

My problem EH is I tend to get all obsessive and read the whole thing at once. In some cases you can do that but from what I've experienced with only 3 stories I think I need to pace myself. I do love a good winged man story so we'll see how it goes.

Have a great weekend.

K. Z. Snow said...

I really would like to read A Brush of Wings. I'm very fond of angel types. :-)

It's hard for me to read anthologies. I get all OCD, too, and have to keep reminding myself that stories can be savored more fully when the reader doesn't run them together.

Tam said...

That seems to be a common problem KZ. We all want to just dive in and read read read especially if it's a theme we like. But it can be detrimental and unfair to the authors who end up near the end. So I'm committing to only reading 3 a week (my arbritrary decision) and maybe that will keep me in check.

K. Z. Snow said...

Yeah, I've learned to skip around. Now I'll pick a story that seems to fit my mood, then close the book when I finish it.

Janna said...

I like the way you picked (or actually let others pick) your next read :) I might try that someday when I'm having trouble picking myself ;)

I have started the A Brush of Wings anthology too! O_o Are we somehow paranormally connected or what? LOL.
I only read the first story so far and decided to not read the whole collection at once. It was a pretty good story, I agree.

I also started book 4 of Ally Blue's BCPI series today. You're still not giving in to the binge? ;)

Tam said...

We must be connected Janna. We keep reading the same books. LOL

For some reason I kind of stalled out after book 2. Hmmm. After this one maybe. I seem to have resisted the binge effect for now. But I'm not very motivated to start anything tonight either.

Tam said...

KZ: You skip around in an anthology? *gasp* I can't do that. I MUST read them in order. LOL Talk about OCD.

Ingrid said...

Windows in Time is in my (small) TBR file too. I read first chapter once, months ago but did not continue

Tam said...

I'm about half way through. I have to say I'm enjoying the current storyline moreso than than the historical one, but still enjoyable.