Author: Kassa

Shadow of the Templar: The Morning Star by M. Chandler

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Shadow of the Templar: The Morning Star by M. Chandler
 
Blurb:
Simon Drake is an up-and-coming young FBI hotshot, an agent with a personal track record so outstanding that it borders on unbelievable. Not yet thirty, he’s already the leader of his own special ops team; a ragtag bunch of talented but nigh-uncontrollable lunatics, it’s true, but under Simon’s inspired leadership they’re a force to be reckoned with, a team with an unparalleled success rate, a team with an almost unblemished record–until now.

Jeremy Archer is the brilliant and unpredictable scion of a long line of international art thieves, simultaneously a phenomenally wealthy English socialite and one of the most infamous criminals in the world. At twenty-seven years old he’s already wanted on nearly every continent for thefts totalling more than ninety-one million dollars, and yet no one has ever come close to catching him–until now.

Now?

May the best man win.

 

 

Review: 

The Morning Star is the first in a series of four books staring the same characters. The above blurb is somewhat vague and deals more with the series as a whole than any individual book’s plot. For this first offering, the introduction to the characters and fast paced action plot makes this book an absolute delight. The witty dialogue and laugh out loud antics have the story flying by way too fast and I’m surprised this is offered as a free read or pay for self published PDF. The characters are fabulous and although none have much depth, their entertainment factor is so high it won’t matter. The story is high on the improbability ranking and there are some technical problems, but really none of these mistakes matter. For those readers who love a quirky, delightful spy-ish novel, you’ll clamor for more once you’ve finish this introduction.

The story opens with Simon’s FBI team handling a high profile, wealthy cocktail party. The team is charged with keeping an eight million dollar diamond – owned by socialites the Mornings – safe from a known thief, Jeremy Archer. When said thief shows up but manages to snag the diamond out from under Simon’s talented crew, Simon is enraged. Yet the thief offers a deal, he’ll return the diamond for money. Unfortunately, not everything is as easy as that and Simon, Archer, and the entire team must work together to stop a terrorist plot.

Well as you may have guessed from the summary, the plot itself is classic spy movie implausible. To get the qualms out of the way first, Simon’s high tech FBI team doesn’t act like an FBI group at all and is better suited to being placed as a highly secret government agency. The FBI portion is completely unrealistic, yet putting that aside, it shouldn’t bother readers so much once you’ve accepted this and moved on. It’s as outrageous as the plot but the journey is well worth indulging. The action is incredibly fast paced, a vague homage to Bond/007 movies, and thoroughly delightful. From the opening scene to the last, the pace never lags and never lets up, which is a considerable feat considering the impressive dialogue, characters, and plot all packed within a mere 135 pages.

The characters are many and tend to blend together unfortunately. Simon’s team is called Team Templar after Simon’s code name, Templar. His team consists of 5 people whose names and codenames mix together and offer little in the way of individualizing their personalities. These five members – Rich (Specs Two), Nate (Specs), Mike (Honda), Johnny (Texas), Sandra (Springheal) – are all wonderful, adding great depth and texture to the story. As the author clearly adores these characters, I did as well but I wish there had been more depth and individuality to the various members so it would be easier to tell them apart. It would be nice to like each character versus just the group dynamic.

The group dynamic however is witty, hilarious, and often the backbone of many of the great scenes. Although Simon is a strong classic character and his chemistry with the polished, urbane thief Archer is fabulous, the strength is really in the overall dynamic of the many characters and their interaction together. This fun loving, intelligent and often immature group will keep readers interested and engaged from the start. Here are a few examples of the dialogue between the team members:

 

“And there you are,” Nate said in Simon’s ear. “We’ve got you on camera ten. Adjust your bowtie if you can hear me.” Simon touched his fingers to his tie. “Good. Great. Springheel, look to your left.” Sandra glanced left and smiled.

“Great. Looks like you’re both still in touch.”

“Bring me back some of those little shrimp things,” Rich added.

“There are shrimp things?” Mike said, plaintively. “I’m down here staring at wallpaper and missing shrimp things?”

“Sure are,” Rich said as Simon and Sandra headed into the room. “Looks like there are cheese things, too. Oh, and curly vegetable things. At least, I think those are vegetables.”

“Oh, and your favorite, Honda: booze things!” Nate said.

“Booze things?!” Mike’s voice went from ‘plaintive’ to ‘incredulous’. “Man, I wanna switch jobs with someone. Hey, Springheel, you come down here and guard the door and I’ll be Templar’s date for the evening." 

“Gack . . . unwanted . . . mental image . . . killing brain cells . . . ” Nate croaked.

Rich snorted. “You’d look ridiculous in that gold dress, Honda.” Nate moaned in Simon’s ear in what sounded like real pain.

“Shut up, Specs Two,” Mike said affably. “You shrimp thing, you.”

[…]

 

“You speak Klingon,” Rich pointed out.

“Not any more!” Nate flushed a little. “I mean, come on, that was in college, it was a long time ago . . . ”

Rich snorted. “Verengan Ha’DIbaH!”

“Mu’qaD!” Nate automatically snapped, then yelped and pointed a shaking finger at Rich. “Oh, you jerk, and you were making fun of me for speaking Klingon!”

“I am seriously becoming geekier just by sitting here,” Mike informed Sandra.

“I think my dick is shrinking.”

“Mine too,” Sandra said.

“Mine’s good,” Johnny said, patting it affectionately.

  

This kind of banter is repeated often throughout the story but never overwhelming or annoying. The father of it all is rough talking, hard hitting Simon who corals everyone and takes no prisoners. His sexuality is a bit questionable as Sandra is his ex-girlfriend and there is little inclination that Simon is gay except an encounter with Archer late in the story. So I can’t wait to find out if Simon is gay, bi-sexual, straight, or gay for thief? Archer’s polished, oh so British personality has a wealth of possibilities and since no background information is offered towards any of the characters or their personalities, I can only assume more will come in future stories. Thus while the characters aren’t fully three dimensional, their entertainment factor is high enough to excuse this point.

As a first book in a series, Morning Star completely delivers. Entertaining, dynamic, engaging, interesting, and composed of fascinating characters all wrapped up in a plot that may be outrageous yet tries hard to stay within reality as much as possible. The Bond feel only enhances the story and the writing is rather slick. For a self published story, the editing is much higher than a lot of recent books I’ve paid, even with the few errors I found, so I’d suggest buying the PDF version and supporting a great new voice. There is no explicit erotica but that doesn’t diminish the latent sensuality between Archer and Simon. Check this out, you won’t be disappointed. 

Get it HERE!

 

E-Book Pricing Contd – Torquere Press

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Now when I started this pricing project, people immediately told me to look at Torquere. However, I was skeptical considering that they have a pretty well defined (to me, the casual buyer) price structure and though it may edge one side of the other – I figured it was pretty well set in stone. Little did I realize how right those people were when I looked more closely at their pricing.

So next up on the block is Torquere Press. Well known for shoddy editing and sketching practices, their owners publishing likely more than half the backlist under various pseudonyms but really – does any of that matter to you, the reader? Do you really care that Sean Michaels is actually BA Tortuga? Do you really care if it’s all about the sex? Well the editing should matter since it’s non-existent at TQ but let’s look at pricing since that’s the point of this pricing series.

 

Over at TQ they have NUMEROUS book lines and dozens of different titles so how can you find what you need to know?

Breaking it down for you the “general” guidelines for TQ are as follows:

  • Novel – 50,000 – 100,000 words  — $5.95
  • Novel – 100,000 words and up — $6.95
  • Novella – 20-45,000 words — $3.95
  • Novelette – 10-20,000 words  — $2.49
  • Short Stories – Under 10,000 words  — $1.29

However, keep in mind that TQ is a sneaky ass publisher. They include the author bio and press credits in the word count. I know, I’ve checked. So that page at the front or back with the Publisher info and author bio is included in the final word count and calculated into the cost YOU PAY.  Check any of their listed word counts against some place like FW or do your own word doc check. You’ll see the difference.

 

Just an example I picked at random:

FW claims this book is 9754 words:

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b63715/More-Rockhounds-3/CB-Potts/?si=0

 

TQ claims it’s 10000 words:

http://www.torquerepress.com/fiction/chaser_rh006.html

 

Who do you believe?

According to TQ they can charge you another $1.20 for that book above. But technically they shouldn’t according to their own guidelines. There are more examples too. If you look there are dozens of examples of books that are actually less than 10,000 words but put into the more expensive category ($2.49) and listed at 10,000 words. Nice lying publisher!

Not to mention most of the word counts I found are towards the lower end of each category for the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY and I’d watch out how they’re skimming extra money from you. Perhaps this is standard in publishing, but something to watch as it’s a known fact with TQ. 

 

Now what about the dozens of various lines they have?

These prices are all the listed prices from the TQ publisher website. We’ll get into the FW cost and “real” cost later.* 

Keep in mind ALL of these word counts are based off TQ publisher listed word count and since a MAJORITY tended to be at the lower end, think about what you’re really paying for and what they are counting.

Anyway –

 

250 Novels                      $5.95 or $6.95 — 45,000 words to 130,000

66 Arcana                       $2.49  — 10,000 words to 27,000 AVG:15,000 words

11 Birthstones                 $2.49  — 10,000 words to 21,000 AVG:13,500 words

11 Everyday Spectres      $3.95  — 20,000 words to 28,500 AVG: 27,000 words

10 Games People Play      $3.95  — 20,000 words to 28,500 AVG: 22,500 words

40 High Balls                   $3.95  —

79 Chasers                      $2.49  — *see below

  0 Cherry Bombs

52 Single Shots                $2.49  — 10,000 words to 23,500 AVG:13,500 words

58 Single Shot Classics     $2.25  — These are old Single Shots Discounted so see above.

11 Spurs and Saddles       $3.95  — 20,000 words to 28,500 AVG: 21,000 words

10 Spice it Up                  $2.49  — 10,000 words to 15,000 AVG: 13,000 words

260 Sips                          $1.29  — 3,000 words to 10,000 AVG: 4,500 words

 

 

Now, is any of this worth your money?

The above was a ton of work looking at every book available on TQ in the various lines and their word count and price as listed on the TQ site. So therefore I didn’t do every single book line, especially the higher count ones. I think you can forgive such. There are a few outliers in every group that are higher than the others and priced oddly. Such as there is one Arcana at 29,600 words and priced at $3.95.

 

The chasers though – this is a total money sink.

Now Chasers are series stories that range from 9,700 words to 24,000 words per story and the stories range from 2 parts to 6 parts. Each chaser is $2.49. Now think about that a minute because the majority of stories are under 13,000 word count. I know. I checked every single one.  

There are 23 chaser series currently available – a total of 77 books. The average word count for any one chaser is 13,600 words. Chasers tend to be 3 parts but can be as large as 6 parts. The average COMBINED word count for all parts is 47,000 words, which according to TQ that would be $3.95. TOTAL! Instead you’ve paid $2.49 x 3 ($7.47) or sometimes $2.49 x 6 ($14.94). 

The word count for the three 6 part stories, which cost you $14.94 total:

60,500 words total with an average of 10,080 words per installment

75,300 words total with an average of 12,500 words per installment

94,200 words total with an average of 15,700 words per installment

 

If you bought it together as one novel, the entire cost would be $5.95.

Not quite a good investment hmm? Of course TQ knows this and is discontinuing their Chaser series because readers are unhappy with pricing. Rightfully so. When will the line stop? Not sure but beware if you buy older series, it’s simply not worth your hard earned cash.

 

So now you’re all numb with numbers – what does this all mean for a consumer?

It means that you need to be pretty savvy to get your money’s worth out of TQ. Check cost of FW and ARe versus cost at TQ and check word counts! Some 10,000 word count stories are pretty sneaky and stuck into the higher charge bracket when they should be sips. Nothing you can do about it if you want the book but you should be aware that TQ is playing fast and loose with their word counts. Their listed costs from the top are *generally* correct IF you keep in mind that you’re paying the cost for the low end of the range, not the high end (ie. the 3,000 word Sip and the 10,000 word Novella).  There’s a whole ‘nother post in this if I tried to break down the shitty job TQ does with pricing on e-tailers. It’s ridiculous! And really this post is epic as it is… perhaps to come.

 

Cost Analysis:

They are kind of all over the place since their word counts are iffy. You could pay $2.49 for a 27,000 word book (currently discounted for $1.99 thats a steal!) and also pay $3.95 for a 20,000 word book in a different line. There are several books like this. Almost the entire "Studs and Spurs" line is a rip off – partly because it’s almost entirely owner authored. 

Examples!

$2.49 for 24,800 (FW lists as 24,683)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_88&products_id=1957

$2.49 for 22,500 (FW lists as 23,010)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_88&products_id=1209

$2.49 for 22,200 (FW lists as 22,137)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_88&products_id=1833

$3.95 for 25,800 (FW lists as 25,714)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=1963

$3.95 for 20,000 (FW lists as 20,087)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=300 

$3.95 for 20,500 (FW lists as 20,481)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=689

$3.95 for 19,500 (FW lists as 19,444)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=1786

$2.49 for 19,350 (FW lists as 18,579)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_91&products_id=1766

So clearly, their numbers are not only sneaky but they’re all over for what they charge. Based on TQ numbers this is the breakdown in cost:

 

So we know TQ is milking your money and the savvy consumer picks and chooses which lines are worth it, but on average how do they compare with other publishers? They compare with Dreamspinner for short stories but are surprisingly the best cost per word for some until you add in the inflation for the chasers. So if we KNOW that TQ is poor pricing, what does this say for DSP and LYD? Not good things in general.

*since this is based on TQ numbers and we don’t trust those, I’ll be doing a "real" comparison with FW listed word counts. This is a lot of work and didn’t have time for this post. 

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:

Unfortunately I don’t have one right now. Due to the word discrepancy I can only say this is part 1 of two parts. It’s clear TQ is skewing the word counts and ultimately YOUR COST. But it appears – so far – to be better than Dreamspinner and LYD by TQ numbers. Will that hold out? 

As always – your thoughts!

 

Busy Days

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Not sure about others but summer has been extremely busy for me. I keep hoping it’ll slow down in the fall – last October I think I travelled for most of it and read almost 3 books a day. Now I’m lucky if I read a book a day and several days I haven’t read at all *gasp*. Trust me, it pains me too!

So that of course means my reviews have fallen off some. Sorry!

I’ve also had a rash of DNF. Usually I read the entire book no matter what but with the time crunch if the book doesn’t interest me immediately, it gets put down and forgotten.

On the DNF list:

Putting Out The Fires by Sienna Black  – ugh on many levels. Bad world building, no characterization. Plot fell apart. I stopped at pg 70 out of 100. 

Star Flyer by Bonnie Dee – see HERE for why I started and gave up. Even skipping to the end didn’t help.

 

On the meh list:

Unlikely Hero by Sean Michael – surprisingly almost no sex and the little girl is pretty cute. However no way would a 3 yr old act like that and about halfway through I was sick of her, even though she was cute. Repetitive scene after repetitive scene. PLEASE write something new or don’t waste my money recycling. kkthx

 

On the great list:

Maritime Men by Janey Chapel – this fabulous novella is about a pair of SEALs who discover passion during their intense training. Although there is no real happy ending, just a happy for now, this is entirely fitting due to the capricious nature of the military. Added to that are the fabulous characters, intense passion, and almost casual acceptance of their needs and desires without any major drama – this book is just full of win.

The men are masculine men with needs, desires, opinions, and intense passions but have a marked lack of drama and angst associated with their actions. They need or want sex and they have it – hot, rough, and sweaty – but they don’t cry and agonize over the fact it’s with another man. Instead they seize the time and moments they can, revel in their choices and worry about the future later. I easily recommend this novella and it’s been garnering solid reviews as well.

 

There are new reviews coming down the pike, I promise.
Plus tomorrow my pricing comparison continues with the always fun Torquere Press. Don’t you want to know!

Breaking the Devil by Bailey Bradford

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Breaking the Devil by Bailey Bradford

Blurb:

Mack and Justin grew up together and were best friends for years, until one day that friendship turned into something hotter and more powerful than either man had ever experienced before. A passionate coupling that branded each man forever—or so Mack thought, until the dreaded day after. That’s when Justin told Mack the whole thing didn’t mean anything to him, and walked away from Mack’s promises of forever.

Mack has never been able to get past that one traumatic event in his life. A dozen years have passed without a word from Justin. But when that red-haired devil reappears, Mack finds out that he can’t resist giving in to his body’s needs—no matter what his head tells him.

Two stubborn, determined alpha males—one nursing a twelve-year fury and the other with a redhead’s temper—who have been denied what they want most for so many years, come together in an explosion of heat and passion that overrides everything else in their lives. Now, if only Mack and Justin can keep their hands, and other body parts, off each other long enough to talk, they might be able to get to the truth behind what happened twelve years ago…and while they’re doing it, they might just have some luck breaking the devil.

 

Review:

This short novella has lots of sex, sex, and more sex. Oh there is a thin plot somewhere between the lube, spit, sex, blowjobs, and tears but it’s rather weak and almost non-existent. There is however, lots of sweaty, rough, cowboy sex. Now, I’m always up for a good porn without plot staring cowboys (ok I have a weakness for hot cowboy on cowboy action), but unfortunately there are several editing errors and writing quirks that ultimately took away my enjoyment of this ranch porn. So if you can overlook some of the problems I mention and you are looking for a complete sex based piece of fluff – this might fulfill that craving.

The blurb summarizes the so-called plot more than the actual story does. The book opens with Mack moping about his long lost love, Justin. Lo and behold though Justin happens to be right there and the two engage in some sweaty hand jobs right out there on the ranch in broad daylight within minutes of their first hellos in twelve years. Thank god no one is actually working to see their bit of exhibitionism. The two then stumble into the ranch house and proceed to have more sex while a word or two is exchanged about the prolonged absence. Repeat this several times, throw in an unnecessary and predictable villain, and that is the book.

The characters are very weak and not explored at all. There is very little depth or interest to either as they have sex for the majority of their interaction and yet the sex scenes do not advance the characters at all. The two act as though no time has past and Julian especially is overbearing and possessive, as if Mack had no right to ever even look at another man in the years they were apart. Additionally neither Mack nor Julian actually questions their future, their past, or how the two immediately started having sex without addressing the problem of their long separation and the changes in their lives. Fortunately for Julian, Mack has been suspended in time for twelve years, waiting for Julian to return. Once Julian is back, Mack waffles between anger at the long separation and just being happy Julian is back in his bed.

Neither man really exists outside of the sexual component of the book. Julian never seems to work on his ranch but instead just happens to always pop up on Mack’s ranch at the exact moment Mack is having an argument or well, Julian never seems to leave Mack’s ranch to run his own. Furthermore there is the evil, predictable plot to keep the two young men apart that forces Julian to break Mack’s heart against his will. Of course there is a villain close to home and one Julian can vanquish to save Mack’s tender feelings. Unfortunately this plot point felt so weak and tired, over used, unoriginal and just boring that even the numerous sex scenes couldn’t save this at that point.

The prose is basic without a lot of complexity or nuance, which fits well with the repeated and numerous sex scenes. Unfortunately there are several quirks to the writing that threw me off and made the story difficult to enjoy and get into – beyond the obvious problems with the weak plot and wooden characters. Mack says “Jayzus” over twenty times in the short novella. Perhaps this is meant to be an affectation but the repeated use of the single word became incredibly annoying instead of charming. Some of the descriptions were unattractive such as the use of “shit-eating grin” close to a scene when one man is rimming the other. The reminder is just, not good. Additionally the writing tended to have rhetorical questions within the story, which could have been stronger if the writing addressed the questions. There are numerous editing errors with internal thoughts not italicized, misspelled words, and similar smaller mistakes.

Although I didn’t realize the book is meant as pure titillation, I was willing be carried along for the ride of hot sex. Unfortunately it didn’t deliver for many reasons but other readers may actually quite enjoy the sex scenes and not be bothered by the problems and quirks I’ve mentioned. As a classic PWP (porn without plot), I can easily see how the erotica will appeal to some readers and only wish I could have enjoyed the offering as well. Sadly, I wanted a brain scrub. 

Get it HERE!

New Rainbow Reviews

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New Rainbow Reviews!

Unfortunately nothing great but a few decent ones such as the memoir from Lethe Press and the Pepper Espinoza paranormal.

                                     

Bad for Business by B.A. Tortuga

Guys Named Walter Aren’t Sexy by Morgan Ferdinand

Harder Than It Looks by Julia Talbot

On a Bruised Road by Pepper Espinoza

A Report from Winter by Wayne Courtois

GS Wiley’s Sweet Tooth

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GS Wiley’s Sweet Tooth

Blurb:

Middle-aged Marshall Vincent is less than thrilled when his wife tells him she wants to take a bus tour of Europe. Once on the tour, Marshall, a great candy lover, is thrilled to find what is quite possibly the best chocolate shop in the world in a quaint Swiss village.

When Marshall takes a peek into the shop’s back room, he goes from innocent tourist to accidental voyeur. What he sees reminds him of an uncomfortable incident from his past, something he’s spent the last three decades trying to forget.

 

straight guy on vacation turns gay from chocolate!

Flying Fish by Sedonia Guillone

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Flying Fish by Sedonia Guillone
Length: Novella / 25,100 words / $4.99

Blurb:

In seventeenth century Japan, during the golden age of samurai and of the Kabuki theater, young actors known as "flying fish" traveled the countryside, performing for audiences by day and giving their bodies to their samurai patrons at night.

Genji Sakura is one such flying fish, yet he dreams of the day he’ll find the man he can give his heart to and leave the loneliness of his itinerant life behind. Though he loves theater, he doesn’t love every part of his profession, especially some of the patrons. So when a handsome ronin, or masterless samurai, comes upon him stealing some solitude for a bath in a hot spring and their encounter turns passionate and profoundly erotic, Genji’s surprised and delighted. 

Daisuke Minamoto’s past fills his life with a bitterness that grips his soul and makes him dangerous. Yet his passion takes him when he spies on a graceful young man bathing naked in a hot spring. He has always loved women but he can’t deny the call of his heart or his baser interests.

After an afternoon of sexual bliss, his heart and soul are tormented and torn. Keeping this miraculous lover will require giving up the one thing that has kept him alive for years: his hatred for the lord who murdered his wife. If he loves another, how will he go on and who will he become?

 

 

Review: 

A sweet and gentle love story set in a unique historical culture and setting. There are a few minor qualms with the story, but the wonderful characters and real flavor given to the setting elevate this tale into something different and quite enjoyable. Here a young man, Genji, has been raised in the theatre after sold as a slave. The bargain he has made with the manager of the traveling theatre group is that in exchange for performing on stage, Genji will act as a prostitute for lusty samurai after the show. One day Genji stumbles upon a bitter, angry samurai and both their lives change.

The characters are well drawn and developed from the beginning and although there is a lot of sex between the two, the gentle nature and emotion involved always deepens the relationship. Genji is a sweet and loving young man even as he struggles with the emotional toll his life has taken. He is jaded and lost, still very young in many ways as he looks to Daisuke for guidance and support. Genji is not a typical weak character even though he is described in almost feminine terms. His beauty, demeanor, and dress are often described as that of a woman. Whether this is to help explain Daisuke’s feelings or to reinforce the traditional dynamic is unclear, but for all the feminine descriptions Genji is a man with courage and strength of will.

Just as Genji is more of the nurturer in the relationship, Daisuke is the masculine provider in the relationship. His change from embittered, angry man to loving, loyal subject is somewhat fast – the story happens over the course of weeks. Considering Daisuke has been carrying his hatred and need for revenge for over five years, the short time to letting that go does create a small problem. However, the development of an emotional connection between Daisuke and Genji given the constraints of the novella does help. Daisuke’s gentle and tender care of Genji is wonderful to watch unfolding as his desire and feelings for the young man are never tainted by concern over Genji’s gender.

The atmosphere of the culture and time is wonderfully done. The use of terminology and descriptions create a beautiful setting and gives descriptions for the words used through context so the reader isn’t lost in unfamiliar terms. This helps maintain the feeling of the historical time even as the issues raised are timeless. There are a few writing problems in that the point of view switches between Genji and Daisuke almost arbitrarily and not always at the best points. Genji’s negative reactions to Daisuke’s protection towards the end of the story are only shown through Daisuke’s point of view, which isolates Genji and cuts the reader off from understanding his choices and actions. It would have been nice to see from Genji’s perspective his thoughts and feelings over the sudden changes. There are a few other examples where the point of view changes are awkward and clumsy instead of seamless, but these are minor qualms.

Overall, this is a lovely story with a very historical and culture atmosphere, lending beautifully to the theme and characters. Although the author claims to have taken some leeway with the time period and other aspects, since I’m not familiar with that culture, it didn’t detract any enjoyment. This novella is an easy and luxurious read with good pacing and very romantic overtones. Fans of the genre will want to experience this unique offering. 

Get it HERE!

 

Annmarie McKenna’s Starting Over

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Starting Over by Annmarie McKenna
Length: Novella / 24,000 / $4.99 

Blurb:
Two years ago, Aaron lost his partner in a drowning accident. He’s trying to move on, but letting go of the past, of the life they were building, is hard. One thing he knows he’s not ready for is a new relationship, but Garrett and Dane are determined to change that.

Lifepartners Garrett and Dane, a cop and an ER doc, bring Aaron home after an accident. They’re happy in their light Dom/sub relationship, fulfilled and in love, but they’ve been keeping their eyes open for a third. It doesn’t take long for them to decide that wounded, pretty Aaron is exactly who they’ve been looking for.

The three get along great, but Garrett and Dane have their work cut out for them in convincing Aaron there’s a time for starting over.

 

 

[More naked chests. I mean the cover is fine – Loose Id has good covers. It’s just boring for me.]

Review:

This is a sweet story about moving on after the death of a partner. The sex is hot and the connection between the established couple is strong and evident while the grieving partner is sympathetic. Mostly well written with a few holes in the story and emotional connection, nonetheless this is an easy, enjoyable story that will appeal to fans. Although this wasn’t entirely successful, it does open my eyes to a new author I’d buy again.

The book opens with Aaron being involved in a dramatic and painful motorcycle accident. Nearby cop Garrett happened to see the accident and was the first on the scene. Garrett instinctively feels something for the injured Aaron, a feeling that is later reiterated by Garrett’s partner, Dane. Although the two have a full and very satisfying relationship, teasing into light D/s, they have been talking about adding a third and Aaron seems to be that person. Unfortunately Aaron’s not so sure he can love again.

The story is a shorter novella (~85 pgs) and doesn’t do justice to the full concept in my opinion. The established relationship of Garrett and Dane along with their light D/s is well crafted and shows the strong love between the two. However, the reason for wanting a third in their relationship is never explained. Whether it’s due to their opposing schedules, wanting more variety in the bedroom, or another reason – this is a muddled part of the narrative. They are very receptive and instantly want Aaron into their relationship while knowing almost nothing about the man. This is a weakness in the story since within a month all three are deeply in love and that emotional connection is definitely missing. The declarations of love between Aaron and Garrett and Dane seem false and too soon.

Part of this is due to the fact that the narrative skips over the recovery time in a few hops. This is to fast forward from the time that Aaron is unable to have sex to when he can fool around again but even this was too soon for his injuries. At the same time, supposedly the three men develop a deeper emotional connection but that is surprisingly never told or shown. Instead the evident lust dominates the story, which isn’t bad since the author can write smoking hot sex scenes and the touch of D/s is light and wonderful. The enjoyment of reading these scenes and the relationship between Garrett and Dane do help keep the story entertaining and somewhat makeup for the lack of a deeper emotional connection with Aaron.

For his part Aaron is a sympathetic character struggling to get his life back together two years after the death of his partner. Aaron is trying to move on, which is admirable and sets him up to be open to the relationship between Garrett and Dane. However, Aaron’s only concern is whether he’s ready to be in another relationship and doesn’t seem to question where he’d fit in with the two men, or if jealousy is an issue or where he would be with the light D/s dynamic going on. The only real concern Aaron had was his perpetual horny nature coupled with an inability to properly masturbate. This definitely contributed to his emotional distance with the other two men but the witty dialogue kept this a quick, fun read even despite these problems.

Overall I’d easily suggest this as a decent read with some fun, hot sex between gorgeous men. Although clearly Aaron would be too hurt to actually have sex so soon and the threesome wasn’t entirely established, that isn’t likely to turn too many readers away. You’ll still enjoy the narrative regardless. 

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