Review: Lonely

Title: Lonely
Author: Scarlet Blackwell
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Publication Date: 28 January 2012
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 22,835 words

Blurb:
When Austin Bale's dog is seriously injured, he has a crisis on his hands. He doesn't have the money to pay vet Lynton Brooke for Rupert's treatment. Picking up on Lynton's interest, Austin offers the only thing he can: himself.

When the love of Austin Bale's life--Rupert the German Shepherd--is critically injured in a car accident, Austin has to come up with seventeen hundred dollars, and fast. Austin lives alone, works a minimum wage job, and has no one he can turn to. The only thing he can offer to vet Lynton Brooke, by way of payment, is himself.


Rating:


Review:

Main Characters:
Austin is a man with nothing left to lose; he's alone in the world but for his German Shepard, Rupert, and is working a dead-end job that isn't quite enough for him to live on. When Rupert's injured, he's desperate to keep from losing him, and offers the attractive veterinarian treating Rupert himself in lieu of payment.

And that's where my regard for Austin fails. I can understand being desperate, but the offer he makes to Lynton shows a lack of regard for himself that's ridiculous. Add to that the fact that his fixation on Rupert is unhealthy--he buys premium dog food even when he can't afford to feed himself, for one. I get that the author is trying to show how much Austin loves Rupert, but to me it just shows that Austin is an idiot. As a larger question, I also find myself wondering just how Austin was able to afford a dog in the first place. Going through a breeder is not cheap, especially not for a man who has to choose between electricity and food, and most rescues have background/suitability checks for adopters. It's practically cruelty to acquire a dog that he doesn't have the means to support.

That being said, Austin never exhibits any growth, but rather backslides as the story progresses. He makes his offer to Lynton--sex for Rupert's treatment--then acts surprised when Lynton arranges to collect on it. He's angry and terrified by essentially being raped by Lynton, but is excited at the same thought.

Maybe it was because it would be his first sexual encounter in forever. And because, despite his anger at the perceived injustice of the situation, despite his fear, thinking about Lynton made him hard. The thought of being submissive to the vet excited him. God help him, what was wrong with him that he got off on the idea of being used? Was he so desperate for sex that he would take some cold-hearted fuck off a man using his body as merely an orifice to get off? Wasn't it something more than that, though? Being fucked by Lynton meant company. A warm body against his for just the briefest time, to show Austin he wasn't so alone in the world after all, that someone desired him and wanted to be with him. To show he wasn't a forgotten man after all.

I hold contempt for Austin, but nothing less than loathing for Lynton. He has the opportunity to either be a professional or a good man (or some combination thereof) and instead he chooses to become a rapist. He could have told Austin no and euthanized Rupert. He could have told Austin no and paid for Rupert's treatment from the goodness of his heart. Instead, he chooses to prey on a desperate man. The fact that Austin made the offer doesn't excuse anything. Nor does the fact that Lynton is attracted to him.

It was too late to act on his attraction to Austin now, though. It wasn't good protocol to take sexual favours off someone—to use them for your own pleasure—and then to get sweet on them and ask them out on a date. Austin wouldn't touch him now with a ten-foot pole—if he had any pride.

Lynton had ruined his chances. He should have been the good man he knew he was deep down and done the surgery for free with no favours. After that, somewhere down the road of Rupert's recovery, he could have asked Austin out. Thing was, Austin would then have felt obliged to say yes and perhaps ultimately, sleep with him. Either way the situation was lose-lose for Lynton and either way, he was getting sex off Austin without the man actually wanting it.

I just find this so, so utterly insulting. First, there's the insult to Austin--it's all but stated that he has no pride, as he continues to associate himself with Lynton. Second, no good man, no matter how deep, would accept such an offer, no matter how appealing the man on offer. Third... no, I can't even articulate it. "Well, he'd just feel obligated later anyway, so I might as well skip the whole 'date' step and get my rocks off now!" It doesn't work for me. At all.

Chemistry:
Austin is desperate. Lynton justifies himself into being a rapist. Somewhere along the lines, they trick themselves into thinking that coerced sex equals love and settle in for their own happily ever after, while I die a little inside. Even toward the end, their dynamic remains totally and completely dysfunctional.

He felt curiously ambivalent about going out straight away to seek another job. He didn't have the energy. Austin just wanted to sit here in the sun until it went dark. What about Lynton? Clearly he was going to pay for Rupert's treatment and clearly he didn't hold a grudge that Austin had crept out on him on Saturday night.

He should have held a grudge. He was altogether too forgiving, too tender, too goddamn caring. He was no longer that man who had forced Austin to sleep with him.

Hell, hardly forced. Austin had wanted it, wasn't that the truth? Wanted it still. Got dreamy and misty-eyed when he thought of playing happy families with Lynton, Lucky, and Rupert.

Secondary Characters:
There are a few incidental secondary characters, but the largest is Rupert. He's a welcome relief from the dynamics between Austin and Lynton, but unfortunately doesn't provide enough of a distraction.

Story:
The story is basically encapsulated in the blurb. Aside from the coerced sex, not much happens until very near the end, which is set up awfully pat. Rupert falls ill again and Austin takes him back to the vet, leaving him late to work. His foreman fires him. He goes running to Lynton, who heals him with his cock, then casually mentions that the office is looking for a vet tech and invites Austin to live with him. I can't wrap my head around the transition from abuse to twoo wuv. I'm not even certain that I want to.

Writing:
I've no real complaints with the writing. It unfortunately just wasn't enough to make me overlook the content.

Other Thoughts:
Although I recognize that the author doubtless wouldn't have wanted to leave the relationship as rape indefinitely, the insistence on referring to the sex as lovemaking from the beginning was disturbing. I could have understood referring to it as sex, fucking, whatever, but lovemaking? No. Just, no.

Overall:
I just can't move past the subject matter to find anything redeeming here. Pathetic or abusive characters are just the start of a story that I really don't think I'll ever need to read again.

Review: Life After Joe

Title: Life After Joe
Author: Harper Fox
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: 28 June 2010
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 35,000 words

Blurb:
It's not the breaking up that kills you, it's the aftermath.

Ever since his longtime lover decided he'd seen the "heterosexual light," Matt's life has been in a nosedive. Six months of too many missed shifts at the hospital, too much booze, too many men. Matt knows he's on the verge of losing everything, but he's finding it hard to care.

Then Matt meets Aaron. He's gorgeous, intelligent and apparently not interested in being picked up. Still, even after seeing Matt at his worst, he doesn't turn away. Aaron's kindness and respect have Matt almost believing he's worth it—and that there could be life after Joe. But his newfound happiness is threatened when Matt begins to suspect Aaron is hiding something, or someone...

Rating:

Review:

Main Characters:
Matt is a deeply troubled man. His life is falling apart after his lover, Joe, leaves him for a woman he's been sneaking around with for two years. He's struggling with everything when he sets his sights on Aaron at a bar and, despite a rocky beginning, starts to pick up the pieces as they come to know each other. He's terrified of being hurt again, though, and the impression that Aaron is keeping secrets from him doesn't help.

Matt is a hard character to actually like, though I did enjoy his story. I found him to be a rather pathetic figure in the beginning, so tied up in his memories of Joe that he didn't care about anything else, whether it was his job, his friends, or his own life. His holding pattern is almost aggravating; I found myself wishing I could smack him for much of the story, even as I can understand how he'd be so lost in his own head.

Aaron is much more even, though not without his own grief. An oil rigger on leave, he shoots Matt down very efficiently the first time they speak, only to later come to his rescue when Matt's attacked on his walk home. As they come to know each other, Aaron provides a calming influence in Matt's life, although he does have his own issues. He recently lost his lover, Andrew Rose (a.k.a. Rosie), in a helicopter crash and has had difficulty letting go; the emotional trauma was enough to leave him with greying hair. Despite his loss, he's much steadier, kind and generous, but firm, not letting Matt walk all over him or ruin himself.

I adore Aaron, I really do. He's willing to help Matt but not willing to compromise his own principles to do so; he'll help him, but he won't carry him on his back. I do wish that he hadn't rolled over quite so easily in the end when Joe returned for Matt, but his reaction when Matt came out to the oil rig was so sweet that I couldn't really hold it against him.

Chemistry:
The dynamics between Matt and Aaron are at first glance uneven, but I think they're actually well-balanced the more I dwell upon it. Matt needs someone to give him a kick in the pants and Aaron needs someone to need him, someone to keep him steady. It felt a bit rushed in parts--in particular when Aaron presented Matt with a ring--but it still worked, and I came away smiling and hopeful for them as a couple.

Secondary Characters:
The supporting cast mostly drove me mad. Lou, Joe, and Marnie all made me grit my teeth, although Lou was perhaps the one who aggravated me the most, springing his issues on Matt when he was already down, then siding so obviously with Joe and Marnie rather than being a friend when Matt so desperately needed one. (I nearly had to put the book down and walk away when Lou showed up at the apartment with a realtor; the level of presumption he showed was ridiculous.)

Story:
The story follows Matt as he comes to know Aaron and recover himself. It's fairly straightforward, but that's just fine; it works for what it is, bringing Matt and Aaron together and addressing their issues so they can form a healthy relationship. It flows nicely from beginning to ending, with just the tiniest touch of suspense regarding Rosie's identity and situation, enough to keep things from wallowing.

Writing:
I particularly enjoyed the writing.

He put out a hand to me. His grip was warm and dry. He closed it on my wrist as if he’d known me for years, as if he could have known I liked to be held that way. When he spoke, he carried easy through the beat, though his voice was low and soft. Accent local but not Geordie—no, a cultivated landsman’s voice, west Cumbrian, maybe. Slowly I tuned in from the feel and the sound of him to what he was actually saying. And then I, like my many predecessors, got off my bar stool and walked away.

It's very much one-sided, not particular dialogue-heavy, but the flow of it is almost lyrical in parts. The general lack of errors certainly doesn't hurt, either.

Overall:
Characters who were almost too broken occasionally bogged down an otherwise-tight story, but eventually carried through to the sweet, if predictable, ending. I enjoyed seeing their growth, both individually and as a couple.

Review: Houseboat on the Nile

Title: Houseboat on the Nile
Series: Spy vs. Spook
Author: Tinnean
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: 30 March 2012
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 126,649 words

Blurb:
Mark Vincent is WBIS—Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security. Quinton Mann is staunchly CIA. Mark thinks the CIA is full of dilettantes who leave him and the rest of the WBIS to clean up their messes. Quinn thinks most WBIS agents are sociopathic loose cannons. So they don't exactly get along.

Of course, just because they don't like each other doesn't mean they can't play mind games on each other. Or sleep together. But when an explosion at Mark's apartment sends Quinn to the morgue to ID a body, he has to reevaluate his position on denial.


Rating:


Review:

Main Characters:
Mark is a man who does what it takes--whatever it takes--to complete a mission. He has bigger things to worry about than how well-liked he is; he practically relishes the dislike others, even those within his own organization, hold for him. He's the best, knows he's the best, and wants to be sure that others know he's the best, too. This leaves him living a life filled with paranoia and secrets, even going so far as to rig his apartment door to explode if its locks are not undone in a precise order. He doesn't have friends, per se, and finds very few people who are worthy of his respect.

I'm torn on Mark. On one hand, I like his sociopathic self. On the other hand, he feels a bit flat to me, as though he's missing a dimension of development. It's offset more toward the end when his personal relationships begin to come out more, but for much of the book I found him hollow and unfinished. (Upon reflection, this is probably deliberate as Mark develops rather a lot as the story progresses, but I still find his earlier caricature to be underwhelming.)

Quinn is the perfect man, or very nearly, even if he does work for the CIA. Secure in a good position, respected even by WBIS agents who think the CIA is utterly useless, he's independently wealthy, from a family with a strong security lineage, and meets his mother every Sunday for some horseback riding. Although far more unassuming than Mark, he recognizes Mark's mind games and is not above playing some of his own.

I'm as torn on Quinn as I am on Mark. I do like him; he's far better balanced and certainly interesting. But he's just too perfect. I could handle most of it, but I found myself rolling my eyes when dressage came up; not only is Quinn handsome, wealthy, and intelligent, but he's also an almost-Olympian, prepared to ride for the 1980 US dressage team before they pulled out of the Games. It was just over the top for me, and ruined a bit of his shine.

Chemistry:
Although there is certainly raw attraction between them, Mark and Quinn first come together (and continue to come together) in a series of mind games. Neither is willing to let the other win, and footsie under the table quickly leads to home invasion and dubious consent. Strangely, the dubious consent (which usually pushes my buttons) doesn't bother me here, probably because it's only another level at which they're attempting to overcome each other; neither resorts to outright rape, but pushing the boundaries is par for the course. The constant one-upsmanship means that the sex is intense every time as they each struggle to come out on top.

Secondary Characters:
The supporting cast is fairly broad, though some notable characters don't get the development they needed. I enjoyed Quinn's mother quite a bit, as well as Matheson, who is adorable in his earnestness. I also have a soft spot for Sweetcheeks and Pretty Boy, who are absolutely charming prostitutes without succumbing to cheesiness. I really wish that Sperling had gotten more attention, though; I never felt that I understood his motivations or the antipathy he and Mark held for each other. (I get the loss of the team for personal glory, but I also got the impression that there was more to it than that.)

Story:
Although things happen in this story, I didn't get a sense of an overreaching arc outside of the escalation of Mark and Quinn's mind games. I suppose the Sperling issue might be the main plot outside of the unconventional romance, but that never really came to the forefront enough for me to really consider it strongly; it came up sporadically, around other missions and mind games, rather than tying the whole story together. I also found the ending to be rather abrupt; it's very apparent that there will be a sequel. (I'm not complaining about it being part of a series, not at all. I do wish, however, that there was less of a brick wall at the end.)

One thing that bothered me about the story is the repetition. Every event is examined from both Mark's and Quinn's points of view; one chapter will be about Mark's particular actions with Quinn, and the next chapter will be about Quinn's reactions to Mark. While it's interesting to get both viewpoints, it also got old by the end, as though the book was twice as long as it needed to be; I didn't need to be that much in both of their heads.

Writing:
My biggest complaints were probably repetition and exclamation points. Aside from the repetition of events cited above, tidbits of information were also repeated more than was necessary. (I got that champagne makes Mark horny the first time, honestly.) I kind of got the impression that the author would forget that a point was already made between all the shifts. As for the exclamation points, there were far more than I'm used to. It may be personal preference, but I found them jarring, especially when they'd show up in every sentence in a particular section of dialogue. The impact was reduced, leaving them reading as a bit silly. Aside from those things, though, I found the writing to be perfectly fine and easy to get lost in.

Other Thoughts:
For some reason, Mark makes me think of Val Toreth in Manna Francis's Administration series. He's nowhere near as dysfunctional, but I couldn't shake the impression. (This is not a bad thing, as Toreth is one of my favorite sociopaths. Seriously.) The thought of Toreth Lite is now making me laugh.

Overall:
Conflicted, manipulative characters kept things interesting even when repetition bogged the story down. A bit less rehashing would've helped to tighten the story up, but it was nevertheless entertaining, if a bit longer than necessary. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Review: Warrior's Cross

Title: Warrior's Cross
Author: Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: 31 August 2009
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 99,889 words

Blurb:
Cameron Jacobs is an open book. He considers himself a common waiter with normal friends, boring hobbies, harmless dogs, and nothing even resembling a secret... except a crush on a tall, dark, devastatingly handsome man who dines alone at his restaurant on Tuesday nights. All it takes is one passionate night with Julian Cross to turn Cameron’s world on its head.

Julian's love and devotion are all Cameron could have hoped for and more. But when his ordinary life meets and clashes with Julian's extraordinary lifestyle, Cameron discovers that trust and fear can go hand in hand, and love is just a step away from danger.


Rating:


Review:

Main Characters:
Cameron is a man content with his lot: head waiter at an upscale restaurant named Tuesdays and proud owner of four West Highland White Terrier puppies. So what if he's nursing a crush on an enigmatic patron? Every man is allowed his weaknesses. He's an unremarkable type and okay with it, though his unassuming exterior hides a spine of steel. The problem for me is that he's so unremarkable that he didn't leave much of an impression as a character with me; immediately after finishing the book, I had difficulty remembering him. I liked him well enough during the story, but once it was done, he was pretty forgettable.

Julian, on the other hand, left rather more of an impression. Operating on the wrong side of the law, he's a shady character who makes himself deliberately difficult to approach. With few friends in the world outside of his colleagues and evil cats, he isn't quite certain what to make of Cameron--or his attraction to him. Despite his job description, he's on a fairly even keel, with a dry sense of humor and a temper that's slow to rouse. Although he appears mild-mannered and soft-spoken, he's not a man afraid of doing what it takes to get things done with a necessary ruthlessness. I found him charming, especially in his more humanizing moments; he's an adorable sickie. It's also sweet how careful he is with Cameron and Cameron's puppies, as though he's afraid of breaking them.

Chemistry:
The tension between Cameron and Julian is more cute than sizzling, but appealing nonetheless. The dynamics are a bit unbalanced at times, though, with Julian's secrets weighing down a lot of their interactions. This doesn't keep the sex from being hot, between Julian's take-charge attitude and Cameron's care-taking. I have to admit a weakness for Julian hefting Cameron off the floor and pinning him against a wall--yum.

Secondary Characters:
The supporting cast is small but interesting, if in need of just a little bit more character-building. I liked Blake and Preston quite a bit but am not clear on their positions or motivations; much is either implied and never addressed. I'm less enamored with Miri, who comes off as a bit too intrusive and inconsiderate; she's skirting the edge of the stereotypical overly-meddling female friend, but only just.

Story:
The story is rather unevenly paced, starting off slow as Cameron and Julian come to know each other, then packing a lot of action into the end. The beginning and end seem almost like two separate stories without much to connect them; though there is some foreshadowing, much of the ending all but stands alone. It isn't a terrible thing, but I found myself losing interest when the action started; although I recognize Julian's competence, I think I preferred him uncertain and hesitant.

Writing:
The writing was certainly enjoyable, without many errors; I liked being able to turn off my mental red pen and just read. Nothing particularly wowed me, but it was still solid and easy to sink into.

Overall:
Appealing (if not particularly memorable) main characters and an interesting romance kept me reading even when the plot made me want to tune out a little. I wish the secondary characters had had a bit more development, along with the climax, but altogether it's still a book I enjoyed, and one I wouldn't mind revisiting.

Review: Dark Chocolate and Raspberries

Title: Dark Chocolate and Raspberries
Author: Sui Lynn
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Publication Date: 23 April 2011
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 62,515 words

Blurb:
18-year-old Dylan's talent for music almost equals his diva mentality. A spoiled rich kid, Dylan enjoys pushing people around. Or does he? When Taj is charged with taking Dylan under his wing, he discovers the shy boy behind the diva mask.

But Dylan walks in on Taj kissing Ben, their budding feelings may not be able to withstand the blow. Stunned, Dylan runs from the room. Taj gives chase, trying to catch him to tell him the kiss he saw was the result of a game played in the dorm called 'Raspberries'. Will their love blossom into kisses, drown in drunken chocolates, or erupt in raucous raspberries in Dark Chocolate and Raspberries?


Rating: 2 out of 5


Review:

Main Characters:
Dylan is a young man fresh out of high school, fleeing a less-than-ideal home life to attend Trinity University, where he'll be able to focus on his singing. He maintains a diva personality, looking down on anyone who's not at his level and pushing away everyone else, to mask his personal pain, trapped with a mentally ill mother and estranged father. He's also not gay, or so he says.

As a character, I just could not connect to him; I spent much of the book actively hating him. His diva personality is inconsistent and often silly, and his level of obsession with Taj makes me think that his mother isn't the only mentally ill one in the family; there's a point in the story at which he becomes so jealous of girls flirting with an uninterested Taj that he vomits--a little extreme to me, and certainly not healthy behavior.

Taj is a bit older and better balanced. He performs with various choir groups, helps out in different aspects of university, and has a tight circle of friends. He's apparently dated before, though nothing of his past boyfriends ever comes out. Although he's better balanced emotionally, his character is still inconsistent--he very rarely acts his age, coming across as much to mature to be believable. At the story's climax, Taj rides to the rescue when Dylan is trapped into taking care of his unstable mother. He drags Dylan away from his mother as she's abusing him, then dials a psychiatrist (presumably, as her actual job description is never revealed) he just so happens to know who just so happens to work in the psychiatric unit of the nearby hospital. How does he know this woman? Why should he need to call her before he calls 911 when the first responders are perfectly capable of notifying the hospital prior to their arrival that they have a psychiatric case and there's no guarantee that she would be staffing the unit at the time? Further, he seems awfully knowledgeable about admittance procedures for mentally ill patients, especially violent ones who are forcibly committed. It's rather different than his taking a depressed friend for treatment, and the overlap isn't enough to explain his knowledge. To add to my suspension of disbelief, he also all but blackmails Dylan's father (despite his disclaimer that it's not blackmail) into leaving Dylan alone. Altogether, it was just way too much for me.

Chemistry:
The attraction between Dylan and Taj goes from zero to sixty in a very short span of time. There's almost no tension for a good portion of the beginning, and suddenly Taj is desperate to kiss Dylan while Dylan has erotic dreams of Taj. The lack of lead-up made their getting together a bit jarring, and their obsession with each other even more so.

The level of obsession is what honestly put me off the most. Taj is worried that Dylan will be jealous that Taj is leaving their make-out session to be with another man, when what he's doing is taking the other man to the hospital. Dylan, fully aware that Taj has other responsibilities one day, is determined to have a shit day because Taj isn't there with him. It escalates ridiculously.

And then there's the testing. As soon as Taj and Dylan identify as a couple, Taj is insistent that they both get tested before they have sex (or even come together, apparently). Okay--a little weird, but okay. Later, it comes out that Taj has been intimate with other men and worn a condom. My question became: why is it okay for Taj to wear a condom with other men but require testing before he can so much as cop a feel with Dylan? I was further baffled when Taj and Dylan got a hotel room after submitting the blood for testing--why couldn't they do that before, if they didn't have results anyway?--and when they planned to use a condom after the testing. Wasn't the whole point of the testing to establish their lack of need for a condom? It's not like Dylan's going to get pregnant. The extreme emphasis of the testing and the contradictory behaviors when it came to sex became rather aggravating after a while.

Secondary Characters:
The supporting cast was nearly as frustrating as Dylan and Taj, full of caricatures without much substance. Dylan's parents in particular fall short of what they could have been; his father was reduced to a manipulative, blustering asshole, while his mother became an insane whore. Although the characterizations made sense in concept, there just wasn't anything there to flesh them out, to make their behaviors believable as functional human beings. I also found Paul to be downright annoying--again, a caricature with nothing behind him to make his mannerisms anything but stereotypically queeny and almost offensive.

Story:
The characters were unfortunately not the only weakness; the story showed its cracks, too. It's disjointed and jerky, with the climax having very little to do with the rest of the story leading up to it. Just a little bit of foreshadowing couldn't have hurt.

The reactions of some characters also don't necessarily make sense. To convince Dylan to take care of his mother, Dylan's father threatens to expose Dylan's relationship with his mother to the world. Given that Dylan's father's concern is his own reputation, I fail to see how making the world aware that he let his wife abuse their son for years after abandoning them both would further his cause. I also don't understand Dylan's reaction. I can understand the shame aspect--who wants the world to know that they've been a victim for most of their life? But why on earth would being the victim of abuse ruin any career he might have?

For a story that focused so much on Dylan and Taj being musicians, too, the music fell by the wayside awfully quickly. Before they get together, there's plenty of mention of Dylan singing, or Taj's groups. Later, there's an offhand mention of them singing together in choir, but no further mention of anything else choir-related. It seemed lax.

Writing:
Commas, commas everywhere, but not a pause to need. I'm a comma queen, and even I found the usage of commas to be excessive here. Commas frequently combined sentences; what should have been two or three sentences is spliced into one awkward sentence. For example: He smiled to himself, the aloof attitude Dylan exuded when people were near had a firm hold, but despite Taj telling him he was gay, Dylan had let him in when they were alone.

Even without the comma issues, I found the writing to be a bit disjointed.

Dylan couldn't help becoming irritated. He wanted the girls to leave them alone. Taj belonged to him. Dylan glared at the two babbling girls and his ire increased, but they ignored him. Their incessant drivel rubbed Dylan's nerves raw. Taj chatted politely for a while, but seemed to sense Dylan's growing discomfort and soon tried to end the conversation.

The reiteration and repetition is prevalent throughout, and the style is just not one that corresponds with my tastes at all.

There are also quite a few errors in general: missing punctuation, missing possessives, incorrect verb tenses, words that should have been deleted but weren't. Some proper nouns are also used improperly which, while not a big deal, didn't improve my opinion. (The two that really stuck out for me were Xbox (not X-box) and HIPPA (not Hippa).)

Other Thoughts:
One thing that threw me early on is a line of Taj's in which he proclaims that he thinks that words like gay and homosexual are just words people use to hurt other people. I can't pin down why it bothers me. It just seems so contrived, I think.

Overall:
In the end, it took me two weeks to read this book simply because I grew increasingly frustrated as I read, to the point that I'd have to put it down and walk away or abandon it entirely. If you don't mind obsessive characters and uneven storytelling, this might be the book for you. For me, there's just not enough of a happy medium to endear it to me.

Review: Ships in the Night

Title: Ships in the Night
Author: Ann T. Ryan
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Publication Date: 28 May 2011
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 21,484 words

Blurb:
Ian Richards moved to LA with dreams of becoming a successful musician. That dream was shelved aside after years of struggling to make it in the music industry. While making ends meet at one of his jobs as a waiter at an event, Ian met with Logan Adams, Hollywood's favourite movie star. The handsome actor left more of an impression on Ian than he cared to admit. Three years later, after the intimate night they shared, memories of Logan still had not faded from Ian's mind. What happens when they meet again for the second chance encounter in their lives?

Rating: 2 out of 5

Review:

Main Characters:
Ian is a young man who moved to LA with a big dream, but who finds himself instead working as a waiter. He has nothing but scorn for the people he serves, as evidenced within the first few paragraphs:

Ian Richards stood in the shadows, appraising the scene in front of him. Rich people turned him off. All of them were snooty, sitting on their high horses, thinking they were better off than the rest of the human species. Wearing their fancy suits and dresses with sparkly jewellery. Even in their own little world, they deemed some of their peers better than the rest. One day, one fine day, Ian thought to himself, he wouldn't have to bow down to these people anymore. One day he would live in his own mansion and be able to charter his own private jet as he travelled the world playing his music. But that thought had led him nowhere six years ago and now here he was, desperately trying to pay his half of the rent, barely surviving on one meal a day. If only he had the opportunity to break into the music industry. If only he had good luck to accompany his more than average skills. Because other than confidence in his ability as a musician, Ian had nothing else. He only had his old guitar and second-hand keyboard to remind him of the dreams he had since he was a child. He wondered sadly at how long it would be before he had to let those dreams go.

"I said I would like one, or did you not hear me?" a snippy voice addressed him.

"I'm sorry, sir." Ian passed a cocktail to the man glaring at him. He breathed in deeply before pasting a fake smile on his face.

"It's so hard to get good help these days," the pompous man said to his lady companion as they walked away.

"Asshole," Ian muttered under his breath.

I have to confess that this soured me on Ian almost immediately. It's hard to have sympathy for him being treated poorly when it was (at least in part) due to his not paying attention to the job he was there to do. For him to make a comment after the fact demonstrates a poor attitude that left me cold. Even understanding that it's a set-up (however brief) to introduce Logan, it sowed the seeds of my perception of Ian as a complete dick.

When he isn't being a dick, Ian is troubled and flawed, but in a way that felt completely gratuitous to me; the revelations of his past were so cliché as to be ridiculous. When Ian confesses to Logan that he was raped by his stepfather, I found myself wondering what the point was. The story of the rape was triggered by Logan's disregarding Ian's lack of consent and forcing himself on him, but the tie-in to the rest of the story was shaky at best. The entire scene and backstory could have been easily left out without affecting anything else.)

Logan is a top actor/director/producer, living the dream. He shares Ian's scorn for his peers, if a bit more circumspectly. He has a devil-may-care disregard for things that don't fall neatly into how he wants them, but at the same time is willing to compromise his own desires to make Ian happy. It's because of the latter that I'm torn on him--there are flashes of him as a nice guy, a genuinely good, likeable person.

And then there's the rape:

Ian opened his eyes and even in the darkness, Logan could see the slight alarm creeping into his eyes. A part of him wanted to reassure Ian, but he wondered whether he would be lying, especially when another part of him wanted to swallow Ian whole. Logan was losing control fast; his hands shook with the intensity of his desire.

[...]

"Shh, baby," Logan whispered to him, and only then did Ian realise that he was whimpering, trying to buck Logan off him. Ian fought to stay in the present, to let himself believe this man would never hurt him.

[...]

When Logan heard Ian's whimpers, the fog of red blurring his senses started to dissipate. His heart clenched at what he had just done. He wanted to take his dick out immediately but that would just cause Ian more pain. He willed his shaft to go limp but it was difficult when the damn thing was gloved in tight heat. So he did something else instead; he lifted Ian's legs and wrapped them around his hips, leaving his hands free to wipe away the silent tears that trailed down Ian's face. He had seen the fear and cursed himself for putting that expression on Ian.

But it's okay in the end, because Ian really did want it.

No.

Without that, I think I might've liked Logan quite a bit. Unfortunately, I can't move past it, and it completely changes my perception of him from the first two-thirds of the story.

Chemistry:
Although we're told often enough that they're attracted to each other, I never really felt that I saw it for myself. Their time together feels distant somehow, almost sterile in its conveyance, and the sex (removed from my issues above) never really had much of a spark. Outside of sex, they're a cute couple--the date at the fair was nice--but the sex is what ultimately ruins their relationship for me.

Secondary Characters:
The secondary cast is brief, limited primarily to Ian's (eventual) bandmates. Unfortunately, I dislike them almost as much as I do Ian, particularly Tristan. He, much like Logan, has his flashes of being an appealing character, until he goes and does something stupid like aggravating Logan's apparent jealous streak. Given that Tristan is apparently such a large part of Ian's life, between the band and his confidences, it would've been nicer to see him as a well-developed character, not a series of plot devices.

Story:
After reading it twice, I'm still not certain what the point of the story is. Is it Logan and Ian's relationship? Is it Ian's career? Is it the resolution of Ian's traumatic past? It seems to be tangled somewhere in all of those, but none are really strong enough to carry the weight of the story. Together, they rather limp along toward the resolution, which is charming, if pat. Unfortunately, the pacing altogether leaves much to be desired. I can understand the three year jump that the blurb alludes to, but the pacing of the rest of their relationship left much to be desired. Once they get back together, there's a burst of activity, and then it's suddenly six months later with nothing to fill in the jump. Things tend to happen with no foreshadowing, too, which makes every event stand out in sharp relief without much to tie it to prior events, leaving everything rather jerky.

Writing:
I'm not sure if my beef with the writing is actually beef with the writing or if it's beef with the story the writing conveyed. I suspect it's more the latter. The writing was technically acceptable, if a bit reminiscent of fanfiction histrionics. (Again, this is probably colored by my perception of the subject matter.) One thing that did bother me, though, is the section breaks. They're usually used to delineate a change in point of view, between Ian and Logan, but they occasionally crop up randomly, leaving a string of asterisks between otherwise-related paragraphs. I wondered more than once what I was missing, for there to be a break there.

Overall:
Ultimately-unappealing characters and melodrama left me cold. I like the concept of where the author started and I like the concept of where the author ended up, but I hated the journey between. Tightening and reconsideration of some points couldn't have hurt. In the end, this is not a story I will go back to.

Review: Striker

Title: Striker
Author: KyAnn Waters
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: 9 January 2012
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 16,000 words

Blurb:
Sports writer Max Myers just discovered he lives next door to the hottest soccer player to hit the field. If he scores a coveted interview with the reclusive striker for the Denver Blaze, he could take himself from sports blogger to mainstream sports authority.

Riley Grayson has no interest in interviews or in outing his private life to the public. He wants to be known for the scoring he does on the field and not in the sack. But Max is a temptation he can't resist. Taking a chance, Riley and Max discover they have more in common than passion for soccer and hot sex between the sheets.

Just as they begin to trust each other outside the bedroom, Max is put in a no-win situation: write an article about Riley exposing accusations of drug use, or risk destroying his own credibility. If he does, he'll lose Riley. If he doesn't, he'll lose everything he's worked hard to achieve.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Review:

Main Characters:
Max is a sports blogger of some renown, on the brink of making it into the big time. He's 5'8", Swedish/Puerto Rican, newly-arrived in Denver, and out as a gay man. He purportedly doesn't mix business with pleasure, though he's quick enough to dip his toes into the company pool, even if he's not on the clock at the time. He's willing to bend the rules to make things work out, but he's not willing to completely compromise on his principles. We unfortunately never learn much more about him, but it's enough of a hint to make him a likeable character, one I wouldn't mind seeing fleshed out more.

Riley is the intensely-private MLS-champion forward of the Denver Blaze. He's gay but not out, not wanting to be defined as "the gay athlete". He tends to be a bit selfish but never annoyingly so. It's more that he has a narrower world-view than Max, and doesn't consider the same angles. Although he had moments in which I wanted to smack him, I think he came out well in the end.

Chemistry:
By the end of the second paragraph, Max is eyeballing Riley's crotch, so the attraction is pretty apparent straight off. They're a surprisingly cute couple given the conflict in their careers, but I never got the sense that they really knew each other as people. Maybe this is why I found the sex a little flat; I never got the sense of a real spark between them, beyond the physical. The physical is fine, but I like a little more development with my sex.

Secondary Characters:
The secondary cast is minimal, just enough window-dressing for the story. Most are off-screen or brief inserts, appearing just long enough to set something into motion before disappearing again. Some (like Max's editor) could have used just a little more development, but overall they worked well in the confines of the story.

Story:
There is a little bit of story around the sex, as the blurb would have you believe. It doesn't really come up until two-thirds of the way through the book, though; up to then, it's primarily a lot of sex. It moves along well once it's introduced, right up until Riley's grand gesture at the end.

Writing:
Although it got the job done, I can't help but feel that the writing was missing something. I never really got a sense of investment or urgency. It was also a little choppy for my tastes; those with a personal preference for shorter phrasing may find things more to their liking than I did. There were a few errors here and there, a couple a little confusing, but none particularly noteworthy.

Other Thoughts:
I have to admit finding it hard to believe that a sports blogger and a champion soccer star would have incomes convergent enough that they'd live next to each other. Maybe I'm vastly underrating what sports bloggers make (or overrating soccer players), but I never quite got past wondering how Max could afford to buy into the high-priced gated community in which he meets Riley.

Overall:
In the end, I did enjoy this story--it was a light, pleasant read. Something was missing for me, though, to take this from OK to good. I wouldn't have objected to seeing this story fleshed out more beyond its short length, but in and of itself there are certainly worse ways to push happy soccer player buttons.