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


Friday, October 22, 2010

Finally Friday.

Yay the weekend. Work was awful this week. How bad? The stress triggered a cold sore. Grrrr. Right before vacation. Great, just what I need. It's going to be a very long year. Anyway, I went shopping today, bad me, bad me. Sigh. But I NEEDED those books. So I've done a bit more reading.

Dance with a Vampire by Fabian Black (7 pages)
All Romance E-books

This is actually a freebie at ARe. A young man is going to a club on Halloween with his date. The bouncer won't let him in because he doesn't turn 21 until the next day, midnight technically. He hangs around harassing the guy. When he still won't let him in, he leaves in a pique and ends up being rescued from getting mugged by the bouncer. He's even more pissed when he finds out the age for he club is 18, but it seems the bouncer has his sights set on him. It's a D/s story and there are no names. It's very poetic, I guess is the way of describing it, not really my prose style, but not a bad little short and you can't beat the price.

Model Student by Shae Connor (70 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Aaron is a film student who supports himself by modeling. One day on a shoot he's introduced to Matt who's doing a journalism thesis and wants to use Aaron as an example of a model/student. There's an instant attraction and they start to get to know each other. Things are going well and virgin Aaron finally believes he's found 'the one', when a secret Matt was keeping from him crops up, and sends them both spinning into dealing with crap from their pasts and old negative behaviours. I like stories with young guys and to be honest, these guys seemed young. I don't mean that negatively necessarily but they reminded me of teenagers (both 20), falling in love easily, kind of idealized ideas about love and sex. The problems didn't drag on too long so I wasn't too frustrated with them. It's the first story I've read by the author and I would definitely try more. I liked both guys and the style. Maybe a bit light and fluffy for some but I loved the last sentence. Very cute.

Strawberries for Dessert by Marie Sexton (229 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

I read this awhile ago and kept forgetting to post. Not that it's forgettable. Just my brain failing. This is a continuation of the Promises series with Jared's casual fling Cole and and his ex Jonathan. Jared suggests the two get together and Cole is as flamboyant as they come. I'm surprised he doesn't wear a feather boa at all times. He is totally not workaholic Jonathan's type, but Cole is very clear he's only looking for some fun, travels a lot and has men all around the world. That works for Jonathan, until he starts to get more deeply attached and yet he's embarrassed by Cole's flamboyance and it causes friction for them. When Cole finally proposes more, which would mean Jonathan giving up his job and being a 'kept man' for multi-millionaire Cole, it could spell the end of their relationship. I love swishy flamboyant characters so I adored Cole, and you just know there's something more going on under that designer clothes surface and fey image. I did want to kick both of them really a few times for being afraid to say they wanted more than fuck-buddy status, but I liked Jonathan's Dad, who while not really "getting it" tried his best and offered some sage advice. Jonathan's next door neighbor and friend was also great, I liked her a lot. A nice continuation of the series although I've yet to read book 3, this is 4. You don't NEED to read the others to enjoy this one though.

October: Trick of Silver by Jamie Craig (122 pages)
Amber Quill

Darren works for the Argenti, a group who hunt down werewolves. He's tasked to take out one of the most powerful ones at a Halloween party, whom they suspect of killing several people. However, Aden KNOWS there's someone there to take him down, and he also knows someone is setting him up and he's determined to find out who. Darren is thrown when Aden reveals him as the assassin within minutes, and despite his better judgment is willing to give Aden a chance to prove his theory. When it seems Darren is being also set-up by his own people, they have to decide what to do about it and the raging hormones they have going between them. If you like your sex rough, gritty and lube-free this is the book for you. It's acknowledged that it's lube-free and Darren likes it rough, and doesn't get overly grossed out by having sex with a guy covered in someone else's blood. I thought Darren seemed a bit too willing to give Aden a chance given his "job" was hunting werewolves, but I did enjoy it. There is a follow-up, On the Ragged Edge of the World which I'll get to shortly. I hope, because I'd like to see what happens next now that Darren is on the Argenti shit list.

15 comments:

Chris said...

Hmm. I can see I'll end up reading Model Student for the last sentence. :) Pretty much agree with you on the others, which you already know!

Tam said...

It was just kind of a "waggle eyebrow" moment that I thought was a cute ending. Sometimes the last sentence seems to be awkward to write and I rarely remember them, but this one stuck in my head and made me kind of go "heh" at the end.

Average Reader said...

These all sound good. I have to admit I'm curious about that last sentence. And I know what you mean about them (the last sentence in things). They can be awkward and unmemorable a lot of the time.

Tam said...

Now I'm paranoid because you guys are going to buy the book and go "WTH is that woman thinking? So not a memorable line." LOL It's not profound or some great literary moment, but it connects nicely with the conflict in the story to lighten it up.

Jenre said...

Poor you with the cold sore :(. I've developed a rather ginormous spot on my chin and I was having the same thoughts as you - why now, when I'm meeting lots of people for the first time?! Hopefully it might have died down a bit by Wednesday.

I have the first Marie Sexton book - Promises - in my TBR pile and will read that before I commit to any more. I'm not a huge fan of swishy characters so the strawberry one isn't calling to me at the moment :).

I liked the Fabian Black story, but then I've become rather a fan of that author recently.

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry work sucked.

I'm going to have to buy Model Student now. :)

Tam said...

Those things always seem to happen when you have something coming up Jen. I bought some special stuff at the drug store last night so I'm hoping it helps it heal faster.

Although Cole is swishy, he's got a core of steel, but when you read Promises I think you'll really enjoy it because they are manly men. :-) Also, all of this author's books so far I've read take place over a long period of time, this one was 18 months so you certainly don't get insta-love and you get to know the characters really well.

Tam said...

Thanks Eyre. If you get it I hope you like it for more than just the last line that struck me as amusing and fitting. :-)

Lily said...

I liked Trick of Silver and it's sequel very much. The Strawberries book I've had in my TBR for a while now. I must remember to read it soon.

So sorry about work and the cold sore. Hopefully after your amazing vacation work will be better and I'm sure the sore will clear up quickly.

Tam said...

I'm looking forward to the sequel Lily. I'm not sure work will be any better but maybe I'll be in a better space to deal with it.

Tracy said...

The vampire book sounds rather interesting. You're right, can't beat the price and hey, it's only 7 pages.

I really need to read more in the Marie Sexton series. I read Promises and haven't read any further. Need to remedy that.

Tam said...

I would say Promises was my fave and maybe this one my second, then A to Z but I haven't read the one in between this one and A to Z which is more of a direct link with the first two books. This one could easily be read as a stand-alone.

Shae Connor said...

Thanks for the review, Tam! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. And particularly the last line. :D

Tam said...

Thanks for stopping by Shae. I seem to have developed an air of mystery around that line. LOL

Shae Connor said...

It seems to be working in my favor, Tam, so no complaints here! LOL