Tag: queer (Page 14 of 36)

July Round Up

August 1, 2018 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Marty and the Pilot by Harper Fox, narrated by Chris Clog – B- This book is part of the #AudibleRomance package. It’s my third Harper Fox book narrated by Chris Clog in a very short space of time (about 2 weeks and the last two were back to back). I’m definitely a fan of this narrator. This book wasn’t quite the success of Priddy’s Tale and Driftwood – but it was nevertheless still worth my time. Marty and the Pilot isn’t quite a melancholy as the other two books I’ve listened to and as such it didn’t quite have the mood I enjoyed so much in the earlier two books. I also didn’t quite trust Devlin (Marty’s pilot) and the story was a bit too fast to entirely convince me he was in a place to really commit to a relationship. This is somewhat strange because Flynn (from Driftwood) was arguably more messed up but I believed him. Maybe it’s because Tom and Flynn were both messed up. Marty here is pretty much together. He likes himself and the life he’s built. He knows what’s important. In some ways, he’s a “Marty Stu” (and is perhaps very aptly named) but he doesn’t have the same journey that Devlin has. Continue reading

Review at Dear Author

July 31, 2018 / Kaetrin

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian. An angsty romantic story of true love and found family. Plus there’s a three-legged dog.

Review at AudioGals

July 3, 2018 / Kaetrin

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Hiatus by LA Witt, narrated by Greg Boudreaux. MMM relationship-in-trouble story.

Once Upon a Haunted Moor by Harper Fox, narrated by Tim Gilbert

June 25, 2018 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: My friend Caz recommended this series to me.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Gideon Frayne has spent his whole working life as a policeman in the village of Dark on Bodmin Moor. It’s not life in the fast lane, but he takes it very seriously, and his first missing-child case is eating him alive. When his own boss sends in a psychic to help with the case, he’s gutted – he’s a level-headed copper who doesn’t believe in such things, and he can’t help but think that the arrival of clairvoyant Lee Tyack is a comment on his failure to find the little girl.

But Lee is hard to hate, no matter how Gideon tries. At first Lee’s insights into the case make no sense, but he seems to have a window straight into Gideon’s heart. Son of a Methodist minister, raised in a tiny Cornish village, Gideon has hidden his sexuality for years. It’s cost him one lover, and he can’t believe it when this green-eyed newcomer stirs up old feelings and starts to exert a powerful force of attraction.

Gideon and Lee begin to work together on the case. But there are malignant forces at work in the sleepy little village of Dark, and not only human ones – Gideon is starting to wonder, against all common sense, if there might be some truth in the terrifying legend of the Bodmin Beast after all. As a misty Halloween night consumes the moor, Gideon must race against time to save not only the lost child but the man who’s begun to restore his faith in his own heart.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I enjoyed the story very much. It was a short (novella-length) audio and, considering that the main characters had not met before it began, it managed to sell me on the budding relationship between Gideon and Lee. There is a bit of insta-lust (nothing wrong with that) and perhaps one or two narrative jumps which suprised me just a little in the romantic story but nothing I wasn’t able to go with fairly easily. Gideon’s last relationship broke down because he was closeted. It’s clear that he has enough regret about that and enough time had passed that when Lee bobs up in his life, Gideon wasn’t likely to let that happen again. So it made sense to me. Continue reading

Review at AudioGals

June 4, 2018 / Kaetrin

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Squared Away by Annabeth Albert, narrated by Greg Boudreaux. Fabulous narration and a very sweet love story.

February Round Up

March 1, 2018 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

HeartShip by Amy Jo Cousins – B A sweet, mostly low-conflict novella about Josh, a college football player (he’s heading into his final year and has been previously red-shirted so he’s 25) and Benji, a 32-year-old massage therapy student who meet on an online fandom for RWBY, a (real) American anime series. After they meet online, they take their conversations to Twitter and catch up once a week to live tweet episodes of RWBY together. Benji’s handle is “princessglitter” and he’s never actually specifically stated he’s a guy. Josh has never explicitly asked him. Benji assumes Josh thinks he’s a girl. But it doesn’t matter because Josh lives in Minnesota and Benji lives in Miami.

Until Josh, who has been sidelined due to a possibly football-ending injury decides to surprise his friend in Florida with a visit.

It’s not a gay for you story. It’s clear very early on that Josh has always known he’s gay. He just hadn’t come out yet, not even really to himself. However, once he meets Benji in person, their flirty online banter and the deep friendship they’ve developed spills over into physical intimacy. It’s fair to say that Josh takes to gay sex like a duck to water and he barely has a qualm about coming out – even to his teammates back in Minnesota. I read it as a “show the world as you’d prefer it to be” kind of thing rather than (unfortunately) actually realistic. There is a little homophobia referenced but it’s dealt with quickly and isn’t a big feature in the story. Continue reading