Review: Irregulars

Irregulars  Anthology

I've enjoyed each of the author's works separately, but together, they created a world so multi-faceted and unique that someone could easily write dozens of stories inside it without repeating themselves once. Fantastic, alluring, and simply awesome.
All stories are set in the same universe, and each story contains a mystery, a romance, an aspect of worldbuilding, and a message. This setup, and of course their shared universe, connects the stories to make four pieces an almost seamless whole, but there's also a distinct individuality to each novella which I'd attribute mostly to each author's personal preferences and style. Mind you, we've got four masters of their craft at work here, so each novella contains all aspects, and all stories are beautifully woven, but each story focuses on one particular aspect of the basic scheme.

Review: A Private Gentleman

A Private Gentleman by Heidi Cullinan


This book was like one of those vending events where a well-versed eloquent salesperson effortlessly as anything manages to convince you that you can't live without their goods - and you listen raptly nodding your head and open your purse wide since you're sold, literally. Only once you're outside the sales room with your absolutely superfluous overpriced heating blanket, you wake from your daze enough to take a break to think, and then you shake your head at your own gullibility. But do you storm back in to demand a refund? No, you just walk off with a shrug. After all, it was a nice event, and you had fun listening to the salesperson. You clutch your blanket tighter with a slightly embarrassed self-indulgent smile. All things considered, it's a nice blanket.

Review: Light of Day

Light of Day by Sue Brown


This sequel didn’t appeal to me quite as much as the first book did.
Not that there was anything wrong with this book. It was smoothly written and well-paced, and I found it estimable that things didn’t just immediately fall into place for the loving couple. Both had to compromise, and both did, once they realized they had to in order to make the relationship work for both of them. I also found the character development nicely done. Both men remained true to what they were made out to be in the first book, while maturing over the course of the story, in a way that fit their respective personalities and made them plausible as a couple.

Review: The Island

The Island by Lisa Henry




This book was very well-written and intense; both Shaw and Lee got to me and had me rooting for them to find happiness, individually and together.
For all its intensity, though, it had some lengths; particularly in both character's inner monologues. Parts of those could've benefited from some nipping and tucking, which, to me, would've made a very good book a great book.

Review: Fall Into the Sun

Fall Into the Sun by Val Kovalin



Bobby and Alejo first met when they were six years old, after a Sunday mass at the church both their families went to on a regular basis. Both grew up in Albuquerque, both are of Hispanic origin, but that’s about all they have in common. Alejo’s parents owned a Mexican restaurant, they were among the pillars of their Catholic parish. The Sandoval children were raised to traditional middle-class values; Alejo’s older sisters married and had families of their own, and Alejo got into the family business when his father became ill. Bobby had three older brothers, all good-for-nothings like their father who died in prison when Bobby was fourteen; their mother worked two jobs, drank a lot and mostly left her children to their own devices, except for making them go to church on Sundays as long as they’d listen to her.

Review: Bonds of Earth

Bonds of Earth by G.N. Chevalier


This book took my breath away with its feeling of time and place. The glimpses I was granted into the half-world which gay culture was at that time were particularly fascinating to me, although the other settings, from the Bowery to the veteran clinic, were equally well worked out.
From the tone of the narrative, to the characters' mindsets, their way of talking, the very real threat of imprisonment or institutionalization that hung above homosexual relationships back then, every little detail added up to a consistent, harmonious whole. Despite the mountain of research that must have gone into this book, there’s nothing schoolmasterly about the historical details, they’re just smoothly woven into the story flow.

Review: Flamingo

Flamingo by Sarah Black


Flamingo is a story within a story within a story, beautifully, almost lyrically written, quiet and conveying a feeling of intimate tenderness for the characters. (The title refers to the story at Flamingo’s innermost core, which is a legend of two lovers, separated by death, who reunite in a different incarnation.) There is wisdom in this story, and yes, ridicule too, for William knows how fleeting the good things in life can be. But there’s also hope and optimism, brought on by Tommy’s unbroken vitality and joie de vivre which eventually brings both men to enjoy their time together, how long or how short it may turn out to be.

As multi-layered as the story in itself were the messages it transported. In the foreground it said that love doesn’t know any boundaries, it hits where it choses, regardless of age. But it also says that love is a risk, and that it might be worse to never take a risk than doing it and losing. Even more can be read into the story Tommy wrote for William (which, btw, was just as beautiful as the coating).

I found this story poignant, heartwarming and simply lovable. Warmly recommended.

review originally written for reviewsbyjessewave.com



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Review: Secret Light

Secret Light by Z.A. Maxfield


Rafe came to the United States at the age of twelve as a refugee after the Nazis invaded his native Austria. He changed his too-German sounding name, made himself a new home in his new country and eventually managed to make a good life for himself through hard work and a winning personality. (His motto is “nobody says no to Rafe Colman.”) But except for his prowess as a Real Estate agent, everything else about his life is a lie. First and foremost, he’s not the womanizer he acts for the benefit of his co-workers, not in the slightest – he’s gay, and on the surface his life revolves around keeping this secret a secret. He even concocted a clever scheme that secures him the sympathy of the women he keeps hooking up with as part of his cover. But beneath this disguise, Rafe hides even more secrets. Extra precaution has been ingrained into him ever since he was a child, and events he witnessed since only reinforced his preformed notion that he can’t allow anybody to find out about him, never, not on any terms. However, the price Rafe pays for his safety is terrible, soul-freezing loneliness. Caught up in secrecy and fear, Rafe isolated himself from each and every personal contact; he has no friends, only colleagues and neighbors, and the only being he really has a connection with is his dog, Mookie (who, by the way, was a treat and a wonderful character in her own right and, as opposed to other canine matchmakers I’ve come across now and then, actually served another, very crucial and rather dark purpose in the plot.)

Review: Lone Star

Lone Star by Josh Lanyon


Mitchell Evans achieved everything he set out to on that Christmas Eve twelve years ago when he left his home town Llano, Texas in a hurry after breaking up with his father and the love of his life, Web. Now Mitch is a successful ballet dancer in New York, and he never intended to come back to Llano.

However, life apparently has other plans with him. A few days before Christmas, after a number of heavy blows to his professional as well as his private happiness, Mitch needs to get away from New York as fast and as far as possible. In some kind of rash action, he returns to Llano, telling himself he’ll only be there for a few days. But, whether he likes it or not, there’s unfinished business waiting for him there, the biggest of which is Web, Mitch’s first love, who he runs into first thing before he even arrives.

Review: The Time of the Singing

The Time of the Singing by Louise Blaydon

An intense read; a full 4-courses menu rather than a snack.
First of all, a warning: this book features a twenty-nine-year old character having on-page sex with a seventeen-year-old. It’s totally consensual and tastefully done but it’s also graphic and detailed. Readers who are adverse to this kind of thing might want to stop here and avoid this book altogether.

Israfel grew up in a conservative, very religious Catholic family. Unlike his outgoing, athletic brother Michael, Israfel has always been more a scholarly type. After he came out to them, and after all the Christian counseling and all the praying from his family and Israfel himself couldn’t help his homosexuality, the celibacy that comes with priesthood seemed to be the only way Israfel could reconcile his sinful desires with his faith.
Israfel found that he liked being a priest. The rituals gave his life structure, his position lent him status, and he used to wear his cassock like a suit of armor that would at once hide him and keep him safe from the temptations of the world. It worked for him. Actually, it worked so well that Israfel had almost convinced himself that being a priest was his true calling and not his last resort. It worked, that is, until the day Israfel first met Nate Mulligan.

Review: Game On, Game Over

Game On, Game Over by Chris Quinton

This book in its entirety wasn’t quite what I expected from the blurb. Part one was fraught with tension in every aspect, moving along at a fast pace. Okay, the setting was perhaps a little romanticized, but not so much as to appear unrealistic, and the rivalizing tribesmen’s knives and bullets were certainly real enough. I liked the descriptions of life at the archeological site and the way this emphasized John/Aidan’s professor persona. He was very believable as adept yet half-hearted spook, and his ready retirement when he had the opportunity was only logical.
The romance fit the setting just fine with its surging, adrenaline-fueled passion. What suffered a bit during the first part were the other characterizations, the secondary cast’s as well as Scott’s, but the latter is remedied as we get to be in Scott’s head more often during the second part.

Review: Simple Treasures

Simple Treasures by Alan Chin


Lance Bishop has a mountain of debts, and he might go to jail if he can’t repay what he has appropriated to himself before anyone notices. Selling his father’s ranch and property looks like the perfect way out of his dilemma, he even has his buyers lined up already. There’s only one big obstacle, the fact that his father is still alive.
Though physically unable to keep the ranch running and mentally broken after the death of his beloved wife six years ago, Emmet Bishop refuses to either leave the ranch or die. Eaten up with illness, grief and self-pity, the old man has cut himself off from the world, even from the last person who still cares for him, his grandson Jude Elder. He spends his days sitting around in his long johns and drinking whiskey from the bottle, and he has driven off each and every single nurse Lance sent his way so far, thus unwittingly playing into his son’s hands.
Lance is determined to solve the problem of his stubborn father by having him deprived of the right of decision – he has already arranged for a judicial verdict – and all he needs to get that is his father drunk and incapable in the face of a judge in spite of being allegedly provided with hired help.

Review: Full Circle

Full Circle by Kaje Harper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



As the author said it herself, this is not a romance, though it has romantic elements and, not to be forgotten, some hot erotic scenes. This story is all about hurt/ comfort and the healing powers of love, and yet it’s as different from the usual similarly-themed fare as night from day. Where other stories use the “if you love it, set it free” trope merely to create some angst in preparation of the big reunion, this story follows through with it to the bitter end. I found this admirably consequent, realistic, and very, very well done. Convincing, too – it fits both characters to the minute detail.

Although the characterizations were as consistent as the plot, I had slight problems with the character of Jamie. Though he changed from a self-pitying, self-destructive Saulus to a mature, reasonable Paulus, and though this process was beautiful to watch, he lost me later with his self-inflicted loneliness. Some kind of love/hate issue with a character, I guess, and it was probably only me, but I just don’t do martyrs. It was really mostly the way he interacted with Heath, Toller’s son, what saved Jamie for me.

Toller, on the other hand, was fantastic. Given room to grow, he unfolded like a flower, and I could totally believe him turning into the proud, self-sufficient man as who he was pictured in the end. He’s someone who doesn’t want nor need charity, but can accept a generous gift with grace and put it to the best use, his own and the giver’s. A personality you’d like to see your own kids grow up to be.

The writing was gripping, smooth and well-paced; the story pulled me in right from the first sentence. Toller’s dreadful past isn’t glossed over, but revealed little by little, which made it bearable for me – alongside with the characters. Again, very well done. And if the forefinger of morale shows time and again, what about it? It fits the story. If I have one niggle it was that the characters had to suffer so much – I wanted to shout, too much! – even if I’m aware there are even worse fates out there.

This isn’t a light and fluffy read, the book deals with serious issues like loss of loved ones, AIDS, rape, abuse, and addiction, and it DOES have a nontraditional (though hopeful and positive) ending. It was still a beautiful story, and it certainly will stay with me for a long time. Warmly recommended.

Full review at www.reviewsbyjessewave.com



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Review: When Love Is Not Enough

When Love Is Not Enough by Wade Kelly

This book was worth reading, but quite exhausting, and not only for its subject matter.
This was an exceptional book in many ways. Starting with the narrative - with three different narrators, diary entries, flashbacks, and the present - this might sound confusing but it actually wasn't. The three voices were different enough to keep them apart even without the dates at the head of the paragraphs, offering insights into the heads of all three main characters, Jamie, Matt and Darian, and thus making them come alive nicely. All three were flawed and tortured, and still each one likeable in his own way. Even Matt, who started out as some kind of grunting, self - centered caveman but redeemed himself nicely enough by the end.

Review: Servant of the Seasons

Servant of the Seasons by Lee Benoit

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Meco, a former architect, used to be a "domer", one of those people who live in enclosed communities which rely entirely on technology for food, clothing, housing. Meco is turfed, that is thrown out of his dome, for a transgression - a punishment that is considered worse than death, since the land outside the domes is barren and dead.
All of a sudden Meco finds himself forced to work the land for his daily handful of beans when he used to live a life I imagine pretty much alike to what we're used to, and he's not faring too well, living in a damp sod house, pulling his own plough and with only his devious neighbor Varas for company. Meco's being a turfed domer makes it unable for him to go to the taon, a human settlement, when he wants to buy a drag beast, so he sends Varas who, true to form, doesn't bring him an animal but two Novigi slaves. Meco hasn't it in him to own another person, human or not, though, so he sets Lys and Tywyll free on their first evening. Soon, he finds himself drawn into the strange bond that connects the two young men. Domers use to completely suppress their sexuality with chemical means. Cut loose from that, and with two sexually very active young men close by, Meco's own needs slowly awake, together with the land once the Novigi start working it. Lys and Tywyll do everything to include Mecon in their bond and into their love and care for each other and the land. And as the land changes, so does Meco, going from careful acceptance to friendship to lust until he's open for more, for a love and a deeper connection of his own, a connection he'll sacrifice everything for, even his life.

This was a wonderful book. Meco's shy, compelling persona immediately captured my heart, and so did Lys, open, giving and generous, and Tywyll, who was determined, fierce and protective. I experienced Meco's slow development, his growth along with him, and cheered him on along the way. The writing was flawless, almost poetic at times, and the erotic scenes fit seamlessly into the flow of the narrative, occuring inevitably like the change of the seasons. A quiet book, despite the fighting scenes, and yet endlessly fascinating, an outstanding read. Can't recommend it highly enough.



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Review: The Finder

The Finder by Brandon Fox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This story is set in a fantasy dystopia, an unusual background that was very well done. Hundreds of years ago, the ancient empire went down in the Daemon Wars. From the ruins of the past, a new empire rose. The Tjumens apparently consider themselves superior to Rhan's people, who are mostly peasants and are tributary to the Tjumen.
Fear of the daemons, beings that can "mark" humans, rules this world, kept alive by the clergy. A "mark" can be everything that makes people different, unusual eye color, surplus fingers and so on. "Marked" people are hunted down and culled by the Tjumens; once culled, they disappear never to be heard of again, like it happened to Rhan's childhood friend, Kev.
Rhan is a finder, someone who scours the ancient ruins for relics of the daemon wars and before. Those things are in high demand, they can fetch a high prize for the finder's village, but the Tjumen examiners often just confiscate relics, too, and collect them in huge archives in their capital, Chakragil. Rhan isn't fond of the Tjumens, mostly because of Kev, but also because he bears an invisible mark and is afraid to suffer the same fate as his friend should he be discovered.
One day Imperial soldiers come to Rhan's village demanding the finders's help in searching for a heretic and a dangerous relic. Rhan and his friend Catrin are assigned to a team of soldiers, Aerik and Maiko. While Maiko is a dumb, greedy brute, Aerik turns out to be a kindred spirit to Rhan. They become friends, and soon lovers. But love between men is not condoned in this world. Though Catrin accepts them, they have to be careful because of Maiko, who can't stand Aerik, who is a nobleman's son, and soon takes a dislike to Rhan too.
Things escalate when Rhan and Aerik find a mysterious relic which they take to Chakragil to show it to Aerik's father. Suddenly they're on the run from the Nuridians, a power-hungry group of Tjumens, who strieve to wrench their secret from them by all means.

The worldbuilding is one of this story's strong points. Elements out of different time periods and geographical locations are put together in a new and interesting way to create an unique and engrossing world that nevertheless is familiar enough that I could find my way around it effortlessly. It was done subtly too, woven into the narrative to avoid infodumping.
The characterizations of Rhan and Aerik were well-done, and the romance between them sweet and passionate, including the sex scenes. And I liked Stian, Aerik's old friend, very much.

Still, I also had a few niggles with this book, first of all Catrin. Not that she wasn't a sympathetic character, quite the opposite, but she didn't do much of anything for the story, and I couldn't help wondering what she was there for anyway. Also, Rhan's and Aerik's adversarys came across as two-dimensional, particularly Maiko, who was so evil and so dumb I wondered how he'd made it into the militia at all, let alone gained the rank he apparently had. My biggest problem, though, was the ending. The story ended kind of abruptly right at the moment when it started to become really interesting. Hopefully there will be a sequel, I'd love to see what happens next to Rhan, Aerik and Stian, and perhaps Catrin will find a purpose then, too.



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Review: Perfect Score

Perfect Score by Susan Roebuck

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When Alex and Sam first meet, Alex is a bored rich brat waiting in his uncle’s fancy car, and Sam is a ragged street kid collecting cardboard. Even during this first scene, their characterization starts, in an amazingly subtle and yet unmistakable way: Alex is a dreamer who waits passively for what life dishes out for him, shaping what plays before his eyes until it meets his own perception and the way he wants his world to be. Sam is a doer, going about an impossible task like pulling a cart that is heavier than he simply because it’s a thing that needs to be done, radiating a stubborn determination to make his world accomodate his needs, if not this way, then another. What amazed me most was how I, the reader, learned these facts about the boys. All the information was conveyed in the tone of Alex’s voice, his thoughts and the way he perceived Sam – and I was hooked from the start. The narrative was “showing, not telling” to perfection, and not only during the first paragraph, but kept up through the entire book. It continued in the chapter-wise change of perspective. Alex, formally educated and articulate, tells his parts from his first person point of view. Sam’s parts are narrow third person, which fits him since Sam is almost barred from normal social interactions by his speaking and writing disability, and communicates mostly through his actions.

After their first encounter, Sam’s and Alex’s ways part for several years. Although they move in entirely different circles, there is still a connection. Sam, who has long forgotten about the rich boy, unwittingly works for Alex’s mother and stepfather and also butts heads several times with Alex’s uncle Timothy Finch. In contrast, Sam stars in Alex’s imagination for years, first as Alex’s invisible friend and later as his dream lover, although Alex doesn’t know the first thing about Sam and is sure he won’t never meet him again. Still, when Alex learns that Sam is right there at his stepfather’s ranch, he spares no effort to leave an impression with the shy, taciturn laborer. I kept turning pages, impatient for them to get back together, always kept on the edge by the fact that any little twist of fate could bring them further apart. When they finally meet again, it is pure coincidence and yet inevitable since Sam’s hut on the ranch of Alex’s stepfather is the place where their own decisions have taken them, although Uncle Tim with his deeds of darkness unconsciously and certainly unintentionally pushed them along.

The characters are incredibly complex; I’ve hardly ever come across two so flawed and tortured heroes. Alex in particular isn’t easy to take to. For a big portion of the book, I alternately pitied him or held him in contempt. He’s the very example of the “poor rich boy”, grown up with all his worldly needs met and still so loveless and lonely that he must resort to an invisible friend for company. Cowering before his uncle, afraid almost of his own shadow, Alex nevertheless cheats his way around the business class his uncle wants him to take, studying music instead, since all he ever wanted to be is a musician. Selfish to a fault, gullible, sly and weak before his uncle’s oppressive personality, Alex still goes about his goal secretively, almost casually becoming a singer/songwriter superstar in the process. And Alex never wavers in his love for Sam. It’s beautiful to see how after a long and painful process of growing up he finally finds, with Sam’s help, the inner and outer strength to take charge of his own life.

Sam, on the other hand, is an incredible person I fell in love with on the spot. Running away from an abusive stepfather at age seven, he was used to fighting for his life every day. Forced to fend for himself with hard bodily work since he was twelve, Sam gathered enormous knowledge about chemistry, pharmacy, herb medicine, farming, animal husbandry almost in passing, making him a self-taught practical universal genius. But he stutters so badly that he can barely communicate, and he is dyslexic, both facts making him a retard in the eyes of his contemporaries. Thus he is denied approval and even reward for his achievements, which makes him distrustful against almost everybody. He trusts and loves only his physically handicapped sister, who he has saved from a state-owned asylum and put into a private nursing home which he pays for all on his own. In turn, his sister loves him back unconditionally and trusts him blindly. Alex is the only person who manages to get behind Sam’s thick walls; it’s Alex’s music which first melts Sam’s heart, and later Alex’s brash refusal to accept Sam’s rejection, Alex’s blind, mad love for him. Slowly, gradually Sam comes to care for Alex and to trust him, to a point where he finally manages to accept Alex’s help and to lean on him. Those two were fated to be together against all odds, those two dysfunctional men who compliment each other in a way that neither makes sense alone.

But not only the main characters, also the secondary cast were distinguishable, well-elaborated characters. Even Alex’s uncle Tim, a psychopath if there ever was one, was given character traits and motivations which, although they didn’t exculpate him, at least made his actions understandable. And I totally loved Sam’s sister Amy, who is as stubborn and determined as her brother at three times the sass.

Perfect Score isn’t an easy read. It’s set during a hard time, in the late 1960′s, and people’s lives were hard back then. The narrative voices, either Alex’s or Sam’s, make no big deal of the hardships, though. Things are as they are. People get drunk and kill other people, children get abused or become disabled due to poverty and poor healt care. The poor die early, the strong feed off the weak, and money makes everything possible. The intensity comes with the factual tone of voice, and the realism brought me right in the middle of Silver Creek, anywhere. Hints and references at the time, like musicians, clothes, hairstyles, mannerisms of speech further added to the timely feeling. I was there with them, on the pastures and in the cow barns, in the dingy bars and smoke-filled clubs. I suffered with both Sam and Alex through their darkest hours and rose with them to their bright, shining future.

Read the full review at reviewsbyjessewave.com



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Review: Tensaw Blues

Tensaw Blues by T.D. McKinney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Quinton Wolfe and Max Bowman (from “The Wolfe Proxy” , reviewed by Wave here) have been lovers for two years now, and the need to keep their relationship secret starts to get to them. As CEO of a big business concern, WolfeCorp, Quint is dependant on his investors’ money, and he’s afraid that coming out as a gay man will affect their interest and willingness to invest in his businesses. Quint has decided that the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of WolfeCorp’s employees outweigh his own need to live openly with Max, who he deems the love of his life. Although sculptor and artist Max agreed to this in the first place, he can’t help feeling overlooked, even more so since Quint is such a workaholic. Thus Max is more than happy to accompany Quint to the opening of a new WolfeCorp plant in a small town in Alabama, since he’s looking forward to at least a few hours of alone time with Quint.



Arriving at their destination, they find to their unexpected pleasure that their hotel isn’t only gay friendly, but seems populated with gay men. Even the architect in charge of Quint’s new plant, Cameron, turns out to be gay, introducing them to the man he plans to have a commitment ceremony with in the near future, Bolt. Their landlord, David, is also married to a man, although his husband, Brian, happens to be a ghost who only Max can see, but Quint cannot.



Well, it’s a delightful surprise for Max. At first depressed and frustrated about the need to keep his love for Quint under the radar, Max flourishes in the company of the other openly gay couples. The afternoon he spends with Bolt, in particular, brings new hope of a better future with Quint to him, since Bolt is an active DEA agent, obviously accepted among his fellow law enforcers despite his unashamed openness about his sexual preferences. Nevertheless, Bolt is also stunningly attractive, which doesn’t sit too well with Quint, whose jealousy and possessiveness are woken by the growing friendship between Max and Bolt.



I liked the way Quint slowly came to open his eyes to the most important things in his life. The other couples’ examples go a long way to show Quint that it is Max who really matters to him; Max’s own insistence and ultimately, Max’s accident are only the last straw. Max, on the other hand, could have come across as pathetic, but he didn’t; he’s a man in love who puts up with adverse conditions in order to be with the one he loves and ultimately, gets rewarded for his patience. Both men were endearing, well-rounded characters whose only fault might be that they appeared, at times, better than life, especially Max.



The same could be said about the secondary cast, although every one of them was a person in their own right. Both couples, Cameron and Bolt as well as Brian and David starred in their own stories in earlier instalments of the “Southern Beaus” series. It was a pleasure to meet them again, watching them interact with Max and Quint, ultimately contributing to the main couple’s HEA. There’s enough background information on either of them that Tensaw Blues can be read as a standalone, although it doesn’t hurt to know the other books.



Although this book is labeled “suspense/ mystery”, the actual mystery takes a backseat to Quint’s and Max’s relationship. Even so, there’s a considerable amount of action. The “showdown”, in particular, is very well-crafted and really exciting.



Tensaw Blues is a solid piece of skillfully cooked-up entertainment, funny, enticing, with a liberal sprinkling of suspenseful action and laced with sweet and passionate eroticism. I can recommend it.



Full review and comments at www.reviewsbyjessewave.com



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Review: The Night Porter

The Night Porter by Sue Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Max Whiteley is an expatriate Texan, working as a night porter in a small, old-style London hotel. Robert Armitage checks into Max’s hotel three days before his wedding. Max has seen many men like Robert walk in through his hotel’s door (for some reason his hotel seems to be popular for prospective grooms to wait for their wedding day there), and he has seen them walk out again. Many of those men seek out a last sexual adventure before they get married, some at one of the nearby clubs, and some – with the good-looking night porter.

Max is immediately attracted to his handsome fellow countryman, but he knows from the beginning that this attraction can’t go anywhere, so he fights it. Every step of the way, as it turns out, since the two men keep running into each other, until they end up spending an entire afternoon together with Max playing tourist guide for an excited and wide-eyed Robert. It is during this afternoon that Max realizes he could easily fall for Robert. Even though Max knows that he’s already deeper in than is good for his peace of mind, he allows himself to be dragged along. He doesn’t resist Robert’s innocent curiosity, Robert’s fierce need. Max takes another step and another, indulging in a dream which he knows is impossible to come true and yet is desperate to make happen, until it’s too late and he wakes up in Robert’s arms.

Max and Robert are polar opposites. Max has had countless flings, but he’s never been in a relationship. He’s strictly and openly gay whereas Robert is a virgin, as he has comitted himself to not having extramarital sex, same as his fiance with whom he has been together for four years. He has obviously never dared to explore his own sexuality, although he seems to be tentatively interested in men as well as in women. However, Robert is a healthy twenty-three year old who is hurting for sex due to his self-inflicted celibacy, and when he picks up from Max that there might be the slightest possibility for a mutual attraction, Robert pushes and pushes until he gets what he wants – and then some, since the way Max makes him feel has the potential to actually turn Robert’s self-perception upside down.
It is Max, though, who should have nipped the whole thing in the bud. Still, Max sends out mixed signals to Robert. It is not entirely due to Robert’s pushing that they land in bed together, and it is Max who doesn’t stop Robert from going further along the way while he still can. He’s the more experienced, the one who should have known better. It is painful to watch how Max drifts off into his dream world where he can have a future with Robert. There is one heartbreaking moment where the story is actually on a knife edge, where I as a reader sat biting my nails, wanting to yell at the guys to open their eyes, to take the leap of faith, to realize that they are made for each other… and again it’s Max who tips the scales. Now that it’s way too late for both of them, he applies full brakes. It is not so much Robert who walks out on Max, but Max who shoves Robert out of the door and into the arms of his fiancee.

Max, as a character is not easy to take to. For one, he’s an incorrigible dreamer, always looking for something, or rather someone, as in Mr. Right, while at the same time putting up with Mr. Wrong more often than not. He is also very unconfident which shows in the choices he makes: working a lonely, mundane job in an unremarkable hotel, messing around with men who he can be sure won’t want anything else but sex from him instead of really going after his stated aim. He comes across as a coward, not least because there is obviously no reason for the way he lives: he is good-looking, educated, from a wealthy family. His reasons remain veiled.
Robert, on the other hand, is easy to like; very much like a big bear cub. He is rather naive although he goes for what he wants with determination. At times, it seems that Robert is the one who falls prey to Max instead of the other way round. Robert doesn’t emerge unscathed, not at all; sex is a big thing for him, after all, and Max makes Robert throw all his principles overboard. What’s more, Max opens Robert’s eyes to a new image of himself, one which Robert is far from accepting, but which is bound to cast a shadow over his marriage and maybe his entire future life.

Forced separation is often used as a plot device, although it has usually happened in the past with the respective story starting when the heroes meet unexpectedly, years later. What we have here is the back story without the HEA resolve, unhappiness in the making, and it’s so sad to watch. It’s also true, for that’s what life is like most of the times.

Opinions may differ on this story. It doesn’t end on a hopeful note, it leaves the reader hanging there, longing, just like it leaves Max, but still…still…there’s the what if, there’s the if only, and the imagination starts spinning – all by itself.

The writing, by the way, was great, although I didn’t much care for the author chewing away at the “Buttercup and Westley” motive.

Don’t read this when you’re already depressed, it will move you to tears. This story is a perfect match for Dreamspinner’s “Bittersweet Dreams” motto, a love which is foredoomed to failure and yet strong enough to touch people’s hearts. It did mine, anyhow.

Reviewed at http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/



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Review: The Path to Forever

The Path to Forever by Etienne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was enticed by the blurb to read this book by a new-to-me author, but sadly, I ended up unable to really get into the story for a number of reasons.

For one, the writing style was quite unusual. Although it is told in Dani’s and Marco’s alternating first person POV, we don’t get much of the actual narrator’s thoughts or feelings since almost everything is handled through conversation. Emotions, plans, descriptions, history – everything is speech, except for the occasionally thrown – in austere report on locations or actions, and then it’s speech again.
It took me a while to realize why this bothered me so. Aside from the missing internal view – which is not necessarily a bad thing in itself – it was mostly the fact that those guys don’t talk to each other, they are holding stage-worthy dialogues. The overall effect to me was like attending a show or a play with my eyes closed, with someone describing the stage scenery to me. The writing style made it hard for me to take to the characters.

However, the mostly – dialogue writing style makes for a fast-paced reading. Others may love this book just for that.

For another thing, the story flowed along like a calm river despite all the obstacles the two heroes had to master. Marco’s mother gets kidnapped? There’s an almost impossible treaty to negotiate? There was an attempt on Marco’s and Dani’s life? For the most part, those problems are solved like, well that’s what lawyers/private investigators/investment bankers are for. When there’s no handy contractor available, the Duca’s money takes care of next to anything. Well, this is fantasy, after all, but after a while, it felt as if things just fell into Marco’s and Dani’s lap and they didn’t have to work for anything, including their relationship.

There is no on-page sex in this book, at least not between the main characters (although there is a description of Marco getting a hand-job from another gay man they become acquainted with in Aragoni). There are lots of hints at Marco and Dani having sex, but those scenes are not even fade to black, but waved aside with half sentences. It makes sense, in a way, since Marco and Dani have been together for ten years. On the other hand, the lack of physical nearness between the main characters added to my inability to connect with them. Although other characters in the book often refer to noticing Marco’s and Dani’s deep love, I couldn’t. Again, though, this is just me, and my opinion is but one. Others may very well be able to understand their relationship just from the words.

Read the entire review at http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=364...



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