Sirius and I join forces at Dear Author today to review The Devil Lancer by Astrid Amara. It’s a paranormal queer romance set during the Crimean War. I wanted to like it more than I did.
Tag: queer (Page 27 of 36)
Why I read it: The author kindly provided a review copy.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) What happened in high school stayed in high school. Until now.
Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexual preference from everyone. Including himself.
So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenseless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left wing could destroy Graham’s life as he knows it.
John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it’s worse than usual, because the media has latched onto the story of the only “out” player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused.
And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.
Rikker didn’t exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won’t even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, his former… best friend / boyfriend / whatever isn’t doing so well. He drinks too much and can’t focus during practice.
Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won’t be easy is the Understatement of the Year.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me that this romance featuring a gay couple is part of this series. Sure there are people who, for whatever reason, will not want to read a romance featuring two guys, but I love that it’s just seamlessly integrated into the Ivy Years. I’d love for queer romance of all stripes to be a tag rather than a separate subgenre. Books like these make me think we might get there one day.
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of November Rain by Daisy Harris. I enjoyed the multicultural aspects of the story but in general terms, it was not a success for me.
Monthly Mini Reviews
Frigid by J. Lynn (Jennifer L. Armintrout) – C+ I enjoy the friends to lovers trope and I liked Wait for You so I bought this one when it was 99c one day a while ago. Kyler and Sydney have been friends since they were toddlers and each has had deep romantic feelings for one another for quite some time. Kyler is a bit of a manwhore and enjoys a lot of one night stands. Sydney has only had one boyfriend and her sexual experience is very limited (and the one time she had penetrative sex it wasn’t very good and her boyfriend split up with her almost immediately after and complained to his buddies she was frigid). Both Kyler and Sydney think the other is out of their league for one reason or another but when they are stranded together at Kyler’s family ski lodge in a blizzard the truth finally comes out. The story is told from both main characters’ POV in alternating sections and, for the most part, the big misunderstanding the story is conceived on didn’t bother me too much. This is because things move apace and the whole book, in terms of their relationship, is about solving the puzzle, not setting up the misunderstanding. So, they spend the book learning how to be honest with one another and that gave them a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to my dislike of the “Big Mis” trope. However, they just had to throw in one too many of the misunderstandings in order to have the grand reunion and that was one too many for me. There is also a suspense plot in there which I thought was kind of unnecessary and bizarre but overall, it was an easy read and not taxing on the brain.
The Hook-up by Abigail Barnette – B This free short story takes place after the events of The Girlfriend and therefore contains spoilers for the earlier books. For that reason, I’d say best not to read it before the other two but if you don’t mind about spoilers, then I suppose you could. In this story, Neil is in London, away from Sophie who is in New York. He has a hookup with their mutual friend-with-benefits “Emir” and things don’t go the way one might expect. I enjoyed the story in part because it was sexy and hot. I liked that Neil’s bisexuality was shown on page and celebrated and it was nice to get some of Neil’s POV. I also liked the chance to enjoy a short which was low conflict. I expect there will be some other trouble ahead for Neil and Sophie – books would be boring without conflict – so it was nice to see them happy, even if they weren’t physically together in this instalment. Sophie wasn’t completely absent from the story, but she’s not the focus. It’s only 30 or so pages so it’s a short hot read and hey: free.
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Why I read it: It was recommended to me all over the place. It’s also free as a free thing which is free. Extra bonus points for the clean formatting and good copy editing.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Dear Author,
Ten years ago, I turned him down.
One night stands were his norm, and not because he couldn’t have had a relationship if he’d wanted one. He could pretty much have any man he wanted. I walked away because I deserved better.
Now our paths have crossed again. He has the world at his feet. It’s a tempting thought to throw away my lifetime of ideals for a single night with him.
Do I still have the strength to walk away?
Do I even want to?
Photo Description:
Two men lie naked in bed. One is on his stomach, with his head out of the frame, the other strokes a hesitant hand down his lover’s back.
This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love’s Landscapes” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): Nick Hana and Kevin Dorsey have been best friends all through college. They’re both on the college soccer team and they’re both gay. They also have a lot of other things in common and have been very close. Nick is in love with Kevin but Kev gets around and is notorious for one-night stands. Nick is a firm believer in sex having to mean something. He doesn’t want to have sex for the sake of sex. He wants the relationship too. Believing he cannot get that from Kevin, they part the eve before graduation on unfriendly terms.
with a review of Caught! (Shamwell Tales book 1) by JL Merrow. Merrow has such an engaging style. This was a joy to read.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
