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


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Saturday Blahs

It's not that the books are blah, they aren't, quite good in fact but I'm blah. Mostly work related which Friday morning had me in a high state. We'll see if they are prepared to address my concerns Tuesday (long weekend for us) or if I'm going to have to make my point AGAIN.

We are going to Montreal to see Cirque du Soleil tomorrow and my daughter is in a riding show on Monday which I'll go and see her part of (she'll probably hang out all day doing horsey stuff), and today is try and find her a white polo shirt for said show, pick up her new riding boots, a few other errands, etc. It's supposed to be decent weather all weekend.

So I got some reading done, with my electronics crisis and my major attack of the blahs, not as much as I had hoped or would have liked but what can you do? Maybe Monday.

Necking by lots of people (300 pages)
These are all m/m/m and despite people telling me to spread it out ... well, over 3 days is spreading it out for me. It was fine that way. I can't review all 15 or so here but I'll take note of some that I particularly enjoyed. They are a mix of bringing a guy home from the bar for a one-off (sometimes as a regular part of a relationship or as a truly one time event) and those in which the third is brought into the relationship permanently. I like both types and enjoyed a mix. They are mostly contemporary but there is one Sci-Fi outer space one and another that is a quasi-historical paranormal I'll talk about.

The Filling by JL Merrow - A funny story about Ivo who is terrified to go to the dentist. He brings his boyfriend Colin along to hold his hand. Ted is a very sexy gay dentist and while he's doing the exam Colin keeps up a running commentary of sexual inuendo that is hilarious. They run into Ted in the bar and go home with him and give Ivo something else to relate to a dentist chair than pain. Not really sure it's much beyond fun for the three but it was very amusing.

Unwrapped: The Birthday Gift by Josephine Myles - For his 25th birthday Dave decides he wants to have a threesome. At the bar they meet Pedro, a visiting American (they are in England) and they take him home. What I liked about this was Dave freaks because you find out Mark his BF had been in a threesome with Dave and his girlfriend which fell apart because he was attracted to Mark and he's afraid it will happen. They talk it out and after Pedro is very up front about his relationship with his partner back in the US and their feelings about sex and relationships not being mutually exclusive. So I thought that was a bit different than just jumping in with both feet.

Snowbound by Jana Denardo - If you've ever seen that old Star Trek episode where Kirk and Spock end up on a plant that is like the 1930's Chicago, but different, this is what this reminded me of. Caleb, Temple and Agni are demon hunters in 1931. They are in Philadelphia and get snow bound and have to hole up at a safe house. Temple comes on to Caleb who is sort of in a relationship with his partner Agni but Agni says go for it. After they fight off some snow demons and Temple almost dies they decide to all get together. It was kind of neat because of the time period combined with the demon hunting. It was a different twist which I enjoyed.

Perform for Me by Lori Toland - Corey goes to a sex club regularly and watches a Dom and sub do their thing, gets turned on and goes home to ravish Justin. One night Justin suggests that Corey join in the fun at the club. Justin does but then freaks out a bit after and Justin has to calm him down and they discuss a threesome together. I really liked the twist on this and Corey having to deal with his kink for watching vs being on display and his relationship with Justin and Justin's kinks. I quite enjoyed it.

An American in Seville by Lenor Black - Tony is on a business trip in Seville, Spain with his boss and another suck-up coworker. His life is one big blah. His wife left him a year ago, he doesn't really like his job in Ohio, his boss is a typical rude American abroad who thinks everything is inferior to the old U. S. of A. Their last night in town they have to go to a flamenco show and Tony is fascinated by the dancer. He needs to get away from his annoying boss and slips outside where he find the dancer Alejandro and guitarist Javier. They talk for a minute and the guys invite him back to their place. At first he's not sure and then figures what the hell. He's nervous and scared but is tired of being afraid and stuck. It's not HEA but it wakes him up and makes him realize his ex was right, he has stagnated and this is the kick start he needs to move his life forward. I really enjoyed how Tony looked at himself and you could feel his apathy as he followed his boss around and just went with the flow.

Actually none of them were duds although the one with the guy called Skunk kind of irked me because I just can't get into stories with people with stupid nicknames. There were a couple in present tense which I also find hard to get into and with a short story it takes me till nearly the end until it flows in my head. It's almost like my mind tries to convert it to past tense and is struggling with what my eyes are seeing. LOL Not bad stories, but I obviously can't connect as well when I'm fighting to stay in the tense. I liked the ones that were a bit different, had a little twist or told the story from a different perspective, but as I said, they were all pretty good and for fans of m/m/m I think it will be an enjoyable read.

Where the Moon Touches by Kiernan Kelly (19 pages)
Val is a werewolf who has to get married next full moon. He knows he's gay but if he refuses (they are berothed at birth) his family will kill him and if he ever cheats his wife will kill him. He decides to get laid as many times as possible before that happens in a few days. He goes to a gay bar where he sees a blonde and immediately knows it's his mate. Christo is freaked as he's sure Val is there to kill him, he ran away from his family because he refused to get married and they swore out a contract on his life. They go to the beach to have a little fun and Val decides that they will go on the run together because there is no way he can marry a woman now that he's found his mate. A bit of slightly different twist on the gay werewolf theme and some of Kiernan's trademark low-key humour. It was okay, just a few hours in their lives.

14 comments:

wren boudreau said...

Hi Tam! I hope you get over your blahs. Have fun at the Cirque - I'm sure it will generate some great ideas! Heh.

Tam said...

One can hope Wren, for both. :-)

Anonymous said...

(((Tam))) I hope those blahs go away quickly! Cirque is awesome. You'll have so much fun! That should definitely chase away those blahs.

I completely understand the issue with names like Skunk. That's one of the things that bothers me about sci-fi/fantasy. If the names are just too weird, I get distracted. I don't mind unique names, but if I have to spend several minutes pondering how to pronounce a name, I get annoyed. I also don't like it when characters have certain names that I associate with certain RL people (i.e. students who were evil), but I just have to get over that one. :)

Chris said...

Heh, you know how I feel about stupid nicknames in stories... what was that one about the stripper?! Gah. Might have to pick up the Kiernan Kelly one...

I hope that Cirque chases away the blahs! Sometimes listening to loud happy music and dancing around in my living room helps, too. :)

Tam said...

There was another book I read that had a character named Booger. If all I can think about is a kid with a finger up their nose. Ewwwww.

No, no dancing Chris. LOL Candy Pants? Yeah, I skipped that one simply because of the name. LOL

Chris said...

Candy Pants. I must've blocked that one out of my mind. I can't believe I read the whole thing.

Lily said...

Hope things go well on Tuesday. Work blahs are such a pain!!

I've got Necking on my reader but Skunk, really?, not very sexy. LOL

Have a great time at Cirque and I wish your daughter much luck at her show. Enjoy your three day weekend.

Jenre said...

Hooray! so glad you liked the anthology. I liked the JL Merrow story too, although I was personally cringing at all the sexual innuendo during the trip to the dentist. If it had been me, I'd have told the boyfriend to wait downstairs before I died of embarrassment, lol!

Tracy said...

The blahs suck. Hopefully a nice weekend will help you get over that.

Between you and Jen I really think I need to read Necking. :)

Interesting take on the werewolf thing in Where the Moon Touches.

Tam said...

They're fighter pilots Lily, you know those wacky military nicknames. I guess I've just had too many near close encounters with a skunk (not as near as my cat had, holy crap that was smelly), but enough to associate it with less than pleasant odors.

Tam said...

Oh I would have killed him Jen if he was with me, but it's always funnier when it's happening to someone else. LOL

It's was a little different werewolf thing Tracy, with being killed if you don't marry.If you like m/m/m there were some good stories in that anthology.

Unknown said...

Hope your blahs go away soon. *hugs*

Tam said...

Thanks Stephani. I hope Cirque today will pick me up.

Erotic Horizon said...

I hope the weather held out for you this weekend. and the show went smoothly..

I haven't read the sum up of the book - because this is one anthology I intend to go all the way through..

I love menage and am pleased to hear it was quite a good mix of stories and they all had something to offer...

Enjoy your time at your daughters event today.. The weather is gorgeous over here..

E.H>