Review: The Ghost on My Couch

The Ghost on My Couch
The Ghost on My Couch by L.A. Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Ghost on My Couch is incredibly sweet, entertaining, and romantic. It’s a near pitch perfect romance that’s sure to please fans. The characters are utterly adorable with just enough geekiness in them to appeal, but enough chemistry to sizzle. The premise should be tired – the ghost and the living fall in love – yet the great humor, whimsy, touching emotion, and sheer entertainment factor make this something funny and adorable. You won’t want to miss this. Continue reading

Review: British Flash

British Flash
British Flash by Josephine Myles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

British Flash is a collection of flash fiction stories – just a few pages each – that center on being gay and British. There are 21 stories with 16 m/m, 3 f/f, 1 m/m/f, and one gender bending story. So there truly is a wide range of stories for everyone but the collection will still appeal most to m/m fans. This is an especially good collection if you’re looking to taste various authors you haven’t tried before. I found those authors I usually quite like to shine very well here while a few surprised me and I’ll definitely be looking at their backlists. Continue reading

Review: Highway Man

Highway Man
Highway Man by Eden Winters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m pretty open about my admiration and love of Eden Winters’ writing and dayum, that woman has done it again with Highway Man. Just a quick story, too quick in my opinion, that introduces some intense characters, a hint of possible love, painful pasts, and a cowboy future. Seriously I’m not sure what else the author could have included but altogether this delightful little story is wonderfully angsty, incredibly hot, and a delicious bite you won’t want to miss. Continue reading

Rambling on a Friday

Recently Jen had a good post on why she doesn’t post so many opinion posts and while reading it, it reminded me that I haven’t done an opinion piece in months here. The thing is opinion pieces bring the most readers and interaction. It’s hard to get a bunch of interaction on reviews and I’m so busy I don’t comment on many blogs (tho I do read them) so I don’t get many comments or views. It’s quid pro quo and totally understandable yet an area I just suck at. I’ll never be a famous blogger *sobs quietly in the corner*

Anyway Jen’s post got me thinking and I realized a couple of things. First I’m very busy and my personal life has kind of taken over (damn boys) while that’s all well and good I’m still reading a lot and all over the place. I’ve branched out a lot more than in the past and I’m reading more mainstream than I was say a year or two or even three ago. I’ve always read mainstream fiction in a variety of genres but I clearly needed a break so it’d be fresh again.

Sometimes I think that about this m/m or gay erotic romance genre. I feel like I’m reading the same stories but the quality just goes down with each new random name I’ve never heard of. I’m definitely less likely to pick up a new author these days as I feel I’ve been burned too many times by bad editing, horrible plots, and boring writing. That’s sadly how I feel and I don’t particularly like it. So I don’t want to read those books, review those books, or hell talk about why the genre has taken a nose dive because there are still amazing and wonderful stories to read (mostly by authors I do know).

But how does this relate to whether I post opinion pieces you’re asking? Well I’m asking that too but really it does because the same phenomenon is happening with those posts as with books. There seems to be the same issues recycled over and over again with perhaps not even more interesting points of view or comments. I think many issues benefit from a revisiting and I plan to check in on a few to see where the consensus stands but for the most part many of the main issues are still there and feel tired.

Or is that just me?

So I’m curious populace.. are you tired?

Are you tired of the genre? The endless blogs? The same arguments?
Do you feel the same excitement with the stories and if not, what should we do to kick start interest in our little happy genre?

Review: Make a Right

Make a Right
Make a Right by Willa Okati
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I chose Make a Right because I like Willa Okati’s writing and the men seemed a touch angsty, which I adore. While the story succeeded in being romantic with a lot of elements fans are sure to love, I couldn’t quite connect with one of the main characters which kept me from truly enjoying this story. The right reader, however, will find this an easy, enjoyable book to read with very strong love conquers all and soul mate themes. Continue reading

Review: Living Promises

Living Promises
Living Promises by Amy Lane
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s no real secret I think Amy Lane serves angst with a side of awesome. She frankly knows how to make complicated men tug at your heartstrings and the Promise series is a great example of that. Unfortunately (and this easily could be a problem for me alone) the series starts off so high that it’s never really hit that same sweet note in subsequent books. I like Living Promises more than the second book in the series but they both pale in comparison to the first. You can read LP as a stand alone but you shouldn’t. I also realize that I just adore Crick and Deacon so much that any time the focus is on someone else, I just want more of them. This is a fine book but as a reader I’m totally spoiled by Crick and Deacon and realize that any other focus in this series will be lost on me. For the more open reader, this is a great angsty character driven story. Continue reading

Review: Muscling Through

Muscling ThroughMuscling Through by J.L. Merrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let me just say I adore everything about this story. The first person narrator is charming, lovely, heart warming and it would take a real hard hearted person not to appreciate his genuine personality. The story isn’t perfect and the narrator tells you the story as if this had happened a long time ago and he’s telling the reader how things came to be. The tense also changes sometimes from present to past but honestly these are all incredibly minor qualms that don’t stand a chance against such a truly wonderful story. I recommend this easily and think fans and readers will love this story. Continue reading

Review: The Holy Road

The Holy Road (Rifter #5)The Holy Road by Ginn Hale
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Rifter #5, The Holy Road, is a vicious and dark installment of the epic fantasy. It also holds a touch of romance and hope between Jahn and Ravishan. It’s perhaps the darkest of the novellas so far and I’ll admit I was pretty disturbed by the end of it. There is a lot of death, destruction, and mayhem offered in graphic and vivid detail. While that’s not my favorite part of fantasy, the problem here is that the story ends on a bloody note without further action to help alleviate the depressing tone. So I ended the story feeling more morose than the well written story deserves. Continue reading

Review: Shameful Desires 1: Enslaved

Shameful Desires 1: EnslavedShameful Desires 1: Enslaved by P.J. Proud
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Shameful Desires 1: Enslaved is presumably the first in a series of books about Andre and Jeremy. I definitely won’t be continuing with this series unfortunately as the bad writing, cliché characters, and overwhelming sex scenes left much to be desired. I wouldn’t recommend this book sadly on any level either. I don’t think it hits the right BDSM note or the right romance note. It feels flat, empty, and utterly predictable. Continue reading

Review: A.J.’s Angel

A.J.'s AngelA.J.’s Angel by L.A. Witt
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

AJ’s Angel handles the tricky and often misused cheating theme. Some people hate this entirely and if so you should avoid this novella. If you don’t mind cheating or on the fence, this one is still somewhat iffy but could appeal. The story relies on Seb’s questionable forgiveness, which is really him wanting hot sex which translates into memory loss about prior cheating. This isn’t always successful and the tone of the story is morose since the majority of emotions revolve around cheating. It’s not a bad story to read but it’s not really an uplifting one with a strong romantic theme. Continue reading