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


Friday, March 25, 2011

A, B, C .... H? Where are D, E, F and G?

So Lily inspired me to start an alphabet reading challenge so I thought I'd give it a whirl for my next few books. I did fine up until C then I didn't seem to have a book for D and I got sidetracked by H. Ooops. Oh well, I don't think the rule is you have to read 26 in a row. I would also appear to have hit many of the major publishers out there in one fell swoop. LOL

Crazy crazy week at work, I'm glad it's almost over. My Grandmother is doing well now, my kid is working her buns off practicing for the school musical which starts in a few weeks and MAYBE we hear spring will arrive next week. One can only hope. At least it's been sunny here.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Accompanied by a Waltz by Andrew Grey (180 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

This book really seems to be about two relationships. It starts with Jonathan who is in his mid-40's and his older lover Greg. They are deeply in love and have been for 17 years and Jonathan is devestated when Greg suddenly dies. Plus he has to deal with Greg's 3 children and vicious ex-wife. However he soon develops a very close relationship with Greg's daughter (they are all in their early 20's) and after a couple of years of wallowing she convinces him to take an apartment in Vienna owned by relatives of her girlfriend for the summer. He agrees and starts to enjoy life and meets Fabian, the 30 year old son of the family who own the apartment. Despite himself he starts dating Fabian and really comes back to life for the first time since Greg's death, however despite falling in love, won't consider staying or asking Fabian to come with him since he's got his family in Austria. Umm. Hello? I was really frustrated with Jonathon. He kept saying "I have to go back." What for? Sure he had a job as a teacher, but Greg had left him a wealthy man so he didn't HAVE to work. He had a house. So. He had no friends to speak of, no life outside of work and a cabin he owned on a lake. He could have taken a leave of absence for a year or two to see if it worked out. But he was so set on "I have to go back". I'm afraid I'm extremely intolerant of people who are stuck in a place. Who would never consider moving away from family or what they know. I know, I know. How unfair of me and it's one of those character traits I just don't get because I appear to have no physical connection to a "place". I've raised my daughter the same it seems. She doesn't get why moving to NZ if your family all live in Canada would be a problem. I guess despite growing up in a place that was 3 miles from the same place my Great-Grandmother landed straight off the boat (and train) from Scotland in 1911, I just don't have that sense of place as being important. Oh well, anyway, it all works out in the end of course, it's an Andrew Grey and you know he's going to have a HEA and I did like Fabian a lot and I enjoyed Jonathon's step-daughter Jeanna and Fabian's little brother Hans. For fans of the athor I think you'll love it because in the end it's very romantic and Vienna is a GORGEOUS city.

Beyond Reckless by Ava March (23 pages)
Amber Allure

This is a very steamy little short historical. Rys shows up at a ball and manages to avoid everyone shoving their daughters at him as tomorrow he comes into his inheritance and goes in search of someone. Suddenly he is grabbed and shoved into a room and attacked sexually by another man. However you soon discover the other man is Martin, Rys' lover of 4 years and they quite enjoy playing these sexual role-playing games although it becomes clear that Rys has been the instigator in this side of their relationships. It's very steamy and hot but after in the few short pages, you really know Martin loves Rys to distraction and would do anything for him and trys to keep his daredevil safe by hoping risky sex will assuage his need to race his carriage through the streets or other dangerous pursuits. I'd love to know how Martin and Rys met and see how their current sexual relationship got started because while it may be THEIR kink now, it didn't start out that way for Martin.

Concubine by Jill Knowles (141 pages)
Loose Id

In this fantasy story, Kael is a scholar and army leader in his country. They are at war against a neighboring country who are half-demons and have decimated Kael's army. At the formal cessation talks, Kael is stunned to find that his father has gifted him to the warlord, Taren, as his concubine. Kael's country does not condone gay relationships, and he is shocked to say the least that his father would betray him this way. However, he knows if he doesn't do his duty, more people will die and he can't have that, so he is determined to take it. He is surprised by Taren's world. It is much more advanced than his own, running water, beautiful buildings, delicious foods and Taren is very kind to him and to be honest, Kael's always been a teeny bit curious about gay sex. Taren's culture is VERY open sexually and he's into BDSM, Kael is his concubine and he decks him out in fancy jewelled butt plugs, revealing clothes and the half-demons think nothing have having a little sex with their coffee after dinner in the salon with everyone else. I really liked this story and how Kael dealt with his new position. He was determined to accept it for his people but he also had to accept that maybe he liked it, and Taren. He spent a lot of time working out the whole thing in his head as Taren pushed him sexually, but was always kind. The second half of the book gets into political intrigue as the concubine guild try to attack Kael and they have to figure out who is behind the attacks. While I don't mind political intrigue plots, I really thought the strength in this book was Taren and Kael working out their relationship, Kael accepting his role and Taren working to slowly bring an untrained concubine to his full potential and get him to believe that it didn't make him less of a man. The second half was less that and to me less gripping. However, Taren's spunk tastes like raspberries. Bonus! I would recommend this one and it was one of my fave reads in the past while.

Happy World by Kiernan Kelly and Tory Temple (191 pages)
Torquere Press

One of these ladies has worked at Disney, I swear or knows someone who did I'd say. :-) Kyle has always wanted to work at Happy World, he's like to be a dancer/actor but has been content to be a grounds keeper hoping his chance will come to move up. He's assigned to train a new guy Rory. Kyle LOVES rules and NEVER breaks them. However Rory is the opposite. It makes Kyle crazy and within a couple of days he's nearly fired because Rory has insulted the "star" of the show Charlie and broken a few other rules and since Kyle's in charge of him, he's also in trouble. Charlie has also decided he wants to date Kyle even though he's ignored him for three years. Kyle tries to put him off as he and Rory have started fooling around and it soon becomes clear Charlie is only doing this to try and drive a wedge between the two because Rory shunned him. There is a lot of information about the hierarchy. Because Charlie is the "star" he throws his weight around and gets people to do what he wants by threatening to have them fired. Kyle is afraid to go to management about him because he knows it will all come back on him and he'll end up suffering more than the harassment (which I think sadly often happens). Eventually Rory ends up with an acting role and Charlie is determined to make his life hell, causing diabetic Rory to collapse. Kyle is a bit of a spineless invisible guy and I was glad he manned up at the end and stopped going long just to get along, as I was about ready to smack him. The descriptions of the park are very funny because they align with some Disney stuff with slightly different names names and descriptions. It was quite amusing. You don't clean up "vomit" it's a "protein spill". For those who find the forced joy and stepfordness of a theme park rather disconcerting, this will probably be rewarding as all of it is poked fun at a bit. I did like Rory and Kyle both, nice guys with different personalities, each bringing something to the other to compliment them. A fun read which I read in an evening.

21 comments:

Chris said...

Glad your grandmother's doing better!!

I have Concubine and several people have recommended it to me. Obviously I need to read it. :)

Jordan Castillo Price said...

I'm so happy to hear your grandmother's doing better too!

I got to go backstage at Disneyworld where my friend worked as a character and puppeteer. It's surreal to see the costume bodies and heads stacked in cubbies marked with puppeteers' names, and a bunch of guys all with the same body type (in this case over 6'4" and skinny) lounging around backstage. I guess it's hell on your body walking around with those big heads on.

(I was Woodsy the Owl once for an Arbor Day thing, it was brutal having great big bird feet and not being able to see where I was walking.) Little known fact about JCP, I guess, ha ha!

Average Reader said...

I'm glad to hear your grandma's doing better. And thanks for reminding me about Ava's book, which I have but still need to read. :)

K. Z. Snow said...

Good grandma news!

Spring ain't nowhere near our acreage, just ice, snow, and temps barely above freezing. Next week won't bring any respite either, it seems.

These forecasts are making me increasingly ornery. I want to dig in the dirt!

Word Veri: ovencoli. Great. I'd better be careful how I cook dinner tonight.

Tam said...

I think you'll enjoy it Chris.

That is too cool Jordan. The owl factoid AND getting to go backstage at Disney. That was one of the things they mentioend was finding actors who LOOKED like characters or who were short enough (or tall I suppose) to fit in costumes.

Tam said...

It's a a quick read Val. Very steamy.

Eeek. Whatever you cook make sure it's well done. :-) It is frozen solid here but I can live with that as long as the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Luckily all the snow has stayed south of the border. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I'm happy to hear your grandmother is doing well. I have Concubine on my list, but I haven't bought it yet.

Janna said...

Glad you grandmother is doing well, Tam.
Speaking of Lily, I'm missing her, I hope everything is alright with her.

You know I loved Beyond Reckless too. And I need to add Concubine to my to-buy list so it seems. :)

Tam said...

Thanks Eyre. I think you'll enjoy it.

I know Lily had been a bit stressed lately and is taking a bit of a break, hopefully things will get back to "normal" for her soon.

Yes, your review inspired me to pull it out as I'd had it sitting for a while Janna. :-) I hope you enjoy Concubine if you get it, seemed to push the right buttons for me.

Lily said...

I'm so glad to hear your Grandmother is doing better.

LOL, I loved the title of the post!! :D

I'm inspiring? That brought a smile to my face. Glad my idea helped you out. I'm on Q now but so far haven't found a book for X or Z. I think my alphabet will be only 24 letters long.

Sorry work was crazy for you this week but hopefully your weekend will be great!

Lily said...

Oops, forgot to subscribe. :)

Jenre said...

OK, you've sold me on the Concubine story. I'm in the mood for fantasy at the moment and have been reading quite a few in and around all the contemporaries. Definitely one for the TBR pile.

Chris said...

I have suggestions for those letters, Lily!! :)

Tam said...

And I had trouble with D? Ack. Okay, Chris will save us Lily. :-)

It was a fun story Jen with very likable guys. And raspberry spunk. Come on, that should be a seller and I have to find me one of these half-demon men. :-)

Anonymous said...

Tam, I found you the guy whose dick tastes like chapstick. I think that's as close as you're going to get to berry flavored spunk.

Lily said...

Great! So what have you got for X and Z? I looked through GR but couldn't come up with anything. I'd like to do the complete alphabet for the first run. After that I'm ok with skipping letter but my OCD wants a complete list at least the first time. LOL, thanks for the help, Chris! :)

Chris said...

I sent you a PM on GRs with my ideas, Lily!

Tam said...

And it would be a cold day in hell before I got near that guy so I guess I'm out of luck Eyre. :-)

Lily said...

Thanks, Chris! :)

Erotic Horizon said...

Good to know your Gran is on the mend and the Kidlet doing her thing.. Hope the musical turns out perfect...

Andrew Grey's world is Andrew Grey's world - you either love it or hate it... Love your tone with that review...

The last two covers are doing nothing for me... Love the blurb on the last one though..

:)

Tam said...

The Concubine cover is a bit busy, but does fit the story. The other a bit different and also busy. Hmmm. Theme? Pastel busy covers. :-)

The last one is a fun inside (fictional perhaps) look at the happy-happy-oh-my-god-could-I-smile-any-wider theme parks. Which I adore. LOL