One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: M/M Erotic Contemporary Romance
Series: Theta Alpha Gamma, Book 1
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 186 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




As far as paradigm shifts go, consciously realizing you're gay because your fraternity brother's naked bum looks like something you'd want to tap is fairly conclusive. Up until that blinding moment, Brad had never let himself think about why the girls in high school and college have never really done it for him. Not that he didn't try lots of them out. He did. So many, in fact, he feels bad about it.

Especially now, when it's finally become so clear that he was just hiding from his sexuality, and if anyone treated his sisters like he's treated women in his past, he'd kick their asses. That is one humbling revelation.

So, okay, he's gay. He can deal with that, he supposes. He has no idea how he's going to come out to his fraternity, though. Not the frat who practically worships at the alter of booze and gives medals for chick boffing. It sucks that he was so good at building up his jock reputation all these years. He doesn't even particularly like playing football.

He does, however, like Sebastian. Sexy Sebastian, TA for Brad's history class, is one put-together, good looking, openly gay man. Just watching him as he reads essays, wearing glasses that add a whole other level of academic hotness to his appearance, gets Brad's blood flowing - and all of it southward. Now that he's finally embraced being gay, there is no doubt who he wants to embrace first. But getting Sebastian to notice him is a whole other issue.

Sebastian is a little bit of a snob when it comes to the third year history students. They're not serious enough about the subject to warrant him learning their names before the end of term. So he doesn't. Except for Brad, anyway. That young man is definitely too hot not to pay all kinds of attention to. Between that gorgeous jock body and those cheekbones of his... Yeah. Pity he's straight, because Sebastian would totally do him.

Except Brad approaches him one night after a party and gives Sebastian his own personal paradigm shift. No way is Sebastian not taking the guy up on it. But no matter how out of the world the sex is, Sebastian is afraid Brad is going to fall for him. And that is going to be a problem, because Sebastian doesn't believe in love. Doesn't even know what it is.


Well, hell. Obviously I haven't been paying close enough attention, because my first experience with author Anne Tenino is by no means her first book. Using this little gem as a yardstick, I have definitely been missing out!

I loved Tenino's authorial voice. It's got a lovely a mix of witty sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor that always appeals to me. It comes through with wonderful clarity in the narrative and imbues both Brad and Sebastian with a sense of lighthearted sexiness that keeps this story far from any significant amount of pathos or angst.

I really enjoyed seeing a coming-out tale that wasn't mired down by a bunch of emotional dreck. There's certainly a place for the serious, emotion-pummeling stuff. I have enjoyed many a thoughtful, heartfelt, intense M/M read, but I also love getting a healthy dose of temperature-raising smutty goodness with lots to chuckle about besides. And that is exactly what Tenino offers readers with this one.

From first moment of Brad's self-revelation all the way through to the frat boy's coming out announcement there were tons of scenes that just tickled me to no end. I was especially fond of Brad's discussion with his family and the scene in which he catches Kyle up on various options for gay sex. All the scenes between Brad and his sisters and Sebastian with his were also big hits.

And I adored Collin. He was a scene stealer from the...well...very first page, actually, but his character also allowed for a wistful poignancy and a touch of seriousness to balance out the rest. I am dying to read his story.

Make no mistake, either, Tenino definitely writes smoking hot, erotic sex scenes. Even solitary ones. She did so with a deft hand, stirring fearless lust with hopeful yearning to create an erotic playground for her yummy characters. I definitely eyed my hairbrush differently this morning. And that was actually a little disturbing.

The tale definitely stays closer to the surface as far as story depth and complexity goes. There's not a lot of conflict - neither internal nor external - and everything progresses rather quickly. What conflict does exist is resolved without any significant trauma or is handled with a sharp eye for the lighter tone of the story.

Neither main character has a ton of depth or dimension, just enough to flesh them out a bit and individualize them. Most of the story evolves from Brad's perspective, so his character feels a bit more robust than Sebastian's by default. Both he and Sebastian are likable, though, and both are defined enough to keep them from feeling cardboard. This just isn't the sort of story that provides any deep character studies or sweeping emotional sagas.

It didn't need to be. It entertained me by being no more or less than exactly what it is, an erotically-charged, fun, light read. It is chock full of cute moments, richly flavored with amusing moments, spiced up with scorching hot moments, and even, when you include the end, touched with sweet moments. I enjoyed it a lot.

Genre: LGBT - M/M Erotica Romance
Series: Table for Two, Book 1
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 1163 Locations
Formats: Kindle


French chef Luc Tessier's ego is second only to his sexual appetites, and his mastery in the kitchen...over food and lovers...is legendary. English food critic Daniel Sheridan isn't nearly as enamored of either the food or the legend. In fact, Daniel has been openly critical of Luc's cooking in several media forums. Luc hates the man with a passion. That doesn't mean that his pride would allow him to do anything but rise to the challenge when he's informed that Daniel was coming to his restaurant to critique the menu, the food, and by default, the chef.

With images of dominating the faceless foodie stiffening his swizzle stick, Luc cooks each course to his exacting standards, determined to wow the critical critic. When his maître d' informs him that the man has arrived, and Luc gets a look at him, he almost gives himself a serving of his own tongue. How could he not have known that Daniel Sheridan was the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen?

With his reputation on the line and his lust unbridled, at the end of the meal Luc finally comes face to face with his adversary. Domination fantasies still flying in his mind, he offers Daniel a tour of his kitchen, then proceeds to show the critic just how good he is in it...to their mutual pleasure. Shocked by the intensity of the experience, playboy and manslut Luc is suddenly dealing with an emotion beyond his own arrogance, but just as he's ready to admit that his time with Daniel was much more than a one-off, Daniel slaps at the chef with his own pride and sweeps out in a huff.

One captivated chef with entitlement issues, one uptight food critic who is no man's amuse-bouche. The path to happiness has never been quite so calorie-laden.

I enjoyed several aspects of Scarlet Blackwell's series debut novella. This is my first experience with Blackwell, and as a fan of all sorts of cooking shows (can't cook, don't want to learn, love watching - ah, the wonderful contradiction that is me) I enjoyed the setting and the characters' occupations quite a lot. The writing was polished and the story flowed nicely. It was short, and as an erotic novella the focus was on the sexuality of the story. The development of the relationship between the characters was very limited, but Blackwell showed off some skill with a smooth narrative that captured my attention. The sex scenes were explicit and graphic and very sexy. If it weren't for one tiny problem, I would have loved that aspect of it.

Unfortunately, the lead characters were the problem. They were odious. Luc's complete arrogance and slut puppy ways were problem enough. I sure wouldn't eat in his restaurant knowing how he treated his cooking surfaces. That's just unhygienic! And just as his character started to improve and I started finding his over-the-top determination to woo Daniel sort of endearing, Daniel - who I found a bit bitchy but not too bad at first - became a complete ass when he met up with Luc the second time.

I never bought for one minute that this romance was based on affection, as both characters were almost completely unlikable to me and even to each other throughout most of the story. Maybe had their been more time to display a more organic about-face on Luc's part and someone had pulled the gigantic stick out of Daniel's derriere (bopping his head with it a few times once removed wouldn't have hurt, either), I would have enjoyed this story a lot more. As it stands, Just Desserts is just too full of empty calories to satisfy.

Genre: LGBT - M/M Erotica Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 2 Stars
Length: 300 Pages, 6196 Locations
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


At twenty-one, Sam Keller is little more than a confused boy, shamed by sexual needs he doesn't understand but driven by them regardless. He's known he's gay since he was ten, had a supportive and loving mother accepting him for it, but his mother died of cancer four years ago and his life since then hasn't been easy. Saddled with restrictive relatives and a provincial town without much for a gay man to do to spread his sexual wings, he yearns for more than a loving relationship with a man, aches to be used and dominated, and that yearning makes him feel dirty and stupid and wrong. But it doesn't stop it.

He runs across Mitch Tedsoe in the alley behind his Aunt and Uncle's pharmacy. Mitch is a trucker with a great body and as the older man flirts with Sam, all Sam wants to do is go into Mitch's truck and do whatever the man wants him to. So he does. And it's exactly what Sam needs. The repercussions from that tryst, however, goad Sam into running away with Mitch and they travel across country.

What began as a tryst turns into the most significant relationship of Sam and Mitch's life and Sam eventually thrives under Mitch's careful handling. The cold truth, however, is that no matter how long and delightful the vacation, it always ends. And accepting yourself, respecting your needs is wonderful...but all for naught if it's not accompanied with growing up in the process. Will Sam's desire to be the man that he wants to be destroy the bond between two men made for each other? Thousands of miles on the road can't answer that question.

Special Delivery is a well written, complex tale of growth and discovery, self acceptance and exploration, with characters and situations that are believable and honest - sometimes brutally so. The fluidity of Cullinan's narrative and the depth of character pathos and conflict was compelling, and the dialogue realistic. I was drawn into Sam's head and felt so much for him throughout the story - to the point I was uncomfortable with it - but I acknowledge the skill it takes to draw readers in like that, and admire it.

I did have a couple of issues and found a few inconsistencies in the background and plot (e.g. Sam's mother has been dead four years, but he tells Randy it was three late in the book) and one or two things that didn't make sense (e.g. Mitch tells Sam he knows middle-aged men who fuss less than he does, and in context, it should have been 'more than'). I had a bigger problem with Mitch mentioning more than once that Sam reminds him of Randy...but never with any context...and Sam and Randy are about as diametrically opposed as two characters can be, so in retrospect, each mention felt more like authorial manipulation than organic plot development. A heavy-handed author's tool to introduce an impending conflict, heighten the emotional response to it, and further muck up the sexual quagmire between them all. Despite those issues, this story was overall technically well written.

I had bigger problems with the story itself.

I realized quickly that this book is definitely one I'd categorize as an erotica romance - the sex was a huge part of the story, and an even bigger part of Sam's identity. There was a lot of it. I'm perfectly okay with that - heck, I like that. What I'm not so okay with, however, was the nature of the sex in Special Delivery and the vicious cycle of emotional damage it was reflecting.

I'm actively aware of the many vibrant, varied colors in the kinky-sex rainbow, and everyone is entitled to whichever and however many colors turn them on. I embrace mine and I hope you embrace yours. The flip side to that yummy coin is less rosy, but just as important - everyone has their own line where hot sexy fun crosses into uncomfortable, painful (emotionally or physically), or just flat-out wrong for them. Sexual humiliation and shame cross my lines. I don't find either sexy or titillating, and am quickly turned off by both.

Sam spent so much of this book expressing the craving for humiliation and then feeling shame for his sexual needs and acts that the sex through most of the book was very off-putting for me and made Sam seem younger and far more damaged than in any way adventurous when he's on the road with Mitch. I found it exceptionally disturbing and it made me very uncomfortable, robbing me of any enjoyment of what would have been exceptionally delicious, well written kinky sex. More importantly, it shattered my ability to enjoy in any way, shape, or form the romance aspects of the plot. And this part of the book offended me: "Subordinate. Submissive. Someone who wanted people to do things to him, to shame him, to punish him." (K.Location 4891) That excerpt and the surrounding paragraph seemed foster a stereotype that being a submissive is synonymous with wanting to be hurt and/or humiliated or is in any way shameful. That is blatantly untrue. It can be those things, some submissives do want/need those things, but it doesn't have to be any of them.

I want to make this clear: it was not the sexual acts in and of themselves with which I had a problem. I found nothing too hard core in any of them - kinky, yes...maybe even a little bent...but in the right hands, none of the acts described were particularly extreme, and none of them humiliating or shameful to enjoy on their own merits. My huge sense of discomfort with the sexual scenes in this book come solely from the emotional response and emotional motivation of the lead character.

Perhaps had their been a better balance in the written sex scenes. As the reader, you know early on that Sam wants both a loving relationship and to be used like a whore. He admits exactly that to himself. He gets involved with a man who recognizes and respects the importance of boundaries and exploration, and revels in his lover's debauchery - it's the perfect relationship for Sam...but that darn shame kept haunting him long into his trip with Mitch.

Even after Sam had embraced his love of kink, accepted himself, freed his inhibitions, and dropped the shame (though still driven by his need for some poorly defined internal humiliation), it was far too late in the book to allow for sufficient time to revel in the difference. And not once did we get a well written, detailed sex scene that wasn't about the kink - they existed...they were mentioned...but were glossed over in passing ("we made epic love all night"), leaving the sum of the sexuality far too one-sided for my tastes. So on top of the lines that were crossed by the humiliation and shame, there was no balance to the tone of the sex and very limited foundation for the romance that came together by the end.

I almost fell over when I read the conclusion, in fact. It was nice and all, but it seemed completely out of left field. I was left wondering how Mitch and Sam would balance their emotional and physical relationship...because nothing in the story gave us any clue in that regard. Far too much went unsaid between them through the whole book about what they mean to each other (I've developed a real loathing of scenes and conversations heavy in subtext because I can never seem to grasp what's trying to be said or what it all means - and there were lots of them in this book). To put it succinctly, though this book was technically well-written, it got nowhere close to my preferences for a romance (even an erotic romance) and crossed too many of my lines for me to enjoy it.

On a side note, I feel the product description of this book on Amazon.com was misleading and should have provided readers a more comprehensive picture of the scope of the sexuality included in the story. I have absolutely no idea of the responsible party for that, so it didn't affect my rating...but I can tell you if I had known beforehand, I would have avoided this story. I want to be entertained when I read...especially when I read a supposedly light HEA romance, not uncomfortable.

Genre: LGBT - M/M Erotica Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 5 Stars
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Jake Taggart has spent sixteen years working for Doug, living on his ranch. He's worked his way up to second in command behind the bossman himself and he's in charge of the men who work the boss' land and cattle. One of those hands in particular has been driving Jake to distraction. They don't get along much, and Tor - short for Tornado - seems intent on pushing every one of Jake's buttons. What Tor doesn't know...Jake hopes...is that most of those buttons are behind his fly, and even though Jake doesn't believe in playing where he works, he can't help but be terribly attracted to the long, rangy cowboy. Then one night during a storm, Jake finds out that Tor's been eying Jake as well, and he thinks playing where you work is just fine...if the man he gets to play with is Jake.

So begins a journey the likes of which I've never read before as two cowboys start something physical and end up together in a relationship that spans years, promises of forever in their minds and hearts until an act of betrayal rips them apart and destroys everything they'd been building. Surviving together doesn't seem possible, existing apart is the definition of futility. Sometimes...sometimes love doesn't conquer all. Sometimes it just gives us the power to do it the hard way.

There are two things I want to say about Bareback before I get into my thoughts and feelings about it. The first is that it has flaws. The second is that despite the flaws, it is one of the most powerful and profound books I've read recently. I was expecting a M/M erotica romance, and I got so much more than that that classifying it that way is actually painful, if technically correct.

At its core, Bareback is the story of two gay men who work for the same ranch. Both have things in their past that are painful, some crippling. Jake is the more serious of the two, but neither was looking for forever until they realized that they loved each other and life doesn't matter much unless they're together. That's where most books fade to black, lead characters' HEA assured. Not so here, and that's where Bareback transcends M/M erotica romance and emerges into the profound, slamming both harsh and brilliant truths home with brittle clarity.

What happens when love isn't enough? When the core nature of two powerful male specimens take a pristine relationship and wear it down until silent hurts and loud words form a nearly impenetrable wall between them? A bleak reality is that marriages end. Relationships crumble. One or both involved betray the other. That's life. And Bareback doesn't shy away from that gritty truth, no matter how ugly and gut wrenching. It was brilliant...and horrifying...and so utterly unique given the nature of this book that I was flabbergasted by the honesty and reality.

For those readers looking for some sizzling hot M/M action, have no fear. There's a lot of sex in this book. A lot of sex. It's shameless erotica and it is unflinching in that regard - for the first half, anyway. For the first half of this incredibly long book (for you Kindle readers, it's 11,706 locations and 372 printed pages) just about everything two men can do to each other is done by Jake and Tor and it's very hot and very graphic and includes one group sex scene.

The relationship evolves in the few normal breaths between those sex scenes - and admittedly, those breaths are few and far between. This book has taken some criticism for having too much sex, and I can't really say that I disagree. But look closely, because the foundation cracks in the relationship are laid even then, and you can start to see that not all is well on the farm. That's when I noticed that this erotica romance wasn't like others I've read, and I started to pay even closer attention.

So close, in fact, that when the betrayal came, it wasn't much of a surprise, but it was so well written that it was a beefy fist to the gut that doubled me over in pain, made me want to vomit, and nearly ripped my heart out.

I'm not going to say any more about that, or about the plot of this book. I will say that the sex in the second half is not nearly as prevalent. There are a few technical errors overall - some words wrong, some grammar mistakes. The writing lacks the polish and sophistication of a more mainstream publication in a few places. There's also not much in the way of world-building, and Owen didn't waste any time describing much beyond the circle of the men, so if you prefer a book with sweeping vistas and a clear picture of the scenery the characters are interacting with, you may be disappointed. In fact, most of what you learn from any of the characters you learn through dialogue and some thoughts that the third person omniscient narrative provides. Though that leans more heavily towards Jake, who is the primary focus of that narrative and the lead character in the book.

I will also say that I started this book because I enjoy M/M erotica and thought it'd be a hot, easy read. It wasn't. Oh, sure, it was hot. So hot in fact that I found myself skimming some of the sex scenes when I realized there was more going on behind them that interested me. But easy? No. Gut wrenching, brutally honest, utterly believable (beyond the sex), emotionally devastating...and very, very profound. The sex was almost a distraction. Don't let it distract you from the story here.

I highly recommend Bareback and wish that the sequel, Natural Disaster, was available on Kindle. I may just have to buy it in print, regardless. There are also several free short stories featuring Jake and Tor that are available for reading on Chris Owen's site, Chris Owen: Musings. They span a time from just before their relationship, during the events of Bareback, and after the events, but before the sequel. I enjoyed them as nice bonuses.