December Round Up

on Paper/eBook

Gayday! Gayday! by Kim Dare - C  Cute short about a bratty submissive who gets into trouble and calls his dominant friend (who he thinks is straight) to bail him out of a sticky situation.  Turns out his friend isn't quite as straight as first though...

Rough Canvas by Joey W. Hill - B This erotic BDSM m/m romance came highly recommended by various Goodreads friends and I picked it up in a recent ARe sale.  Gallery owner Marcus and Artist Thomas were lovers but Marcus keeps secrets and Thomas has significant family responsibilities and neither had trusted the other enough for forever. There was a lot of sex which sometimes overtook the story, but it also had some moment so beauty and lyrical melancholy.  Some of the phrases were lovely but others you kind of had to look at sideways with a squint to understand them because they didn't make a lot of sense when you read them straight out.  I enjoyed the book and believed the HEA and liked that the story ended up being more about Marcus' pain than Thomas' responsibilities.  (But, what happened to Daralyn?).  In any event, I liked it.

Needing a Little Christmas by Sylvia Violet - B-  This cute Christmas short features a sexy lumberjack type hero and really, what's not to love about that.  Some of the early writing in the book seemed a little clumsy and info-dumping, but the story made me smile and I think Eli and Mac will be able to work out their locational issues and live happily ever after.

O Come All Ye Kinky, edited by Sarah Frantz

Why I read it:  I picked this one up from NetGalley but Sarah Frantz had already whet my appetite with her Twitter stories of editing hijinks well before then.

Tree Topper by Jane Davitt - B-  Stan and Martin have been together for a while but things have started to pall.  Martin is an inexperienced Dom and thinks that is the reason Stan is pulling away. Things come to a head (pardon the pun) at Christmas when the men finally have a frank discussion and make a new plan.  Essentially, the conflict was a big misunderstanding which is one of my least favourite tropes in romance.  However, in a shorter format, that trope does tend to work a little better for me (less time for me to gnash my teeth) and while I find it frustrating, it seemed believable. When Martin took control (which fortunately was quite early on in the short story) and they began to talk and sort things out, the story became a lot more fun for me.  But I'd keep Martin away from the duct tape myself.  :)

'Twas the Night by Ava March - B    Set in 1820, Percy, a barrister's clerk goes to visit Michael.  Percy loves to submit and Michael gently challenges him to ask for what he wants.  The story is sweet and sexy.  I really liked how Michael got Percy to open up (pardon the pun) about what he wanted and how that led to both men being more forthcoming about their feelings.

Fireworks by Katie Porter- B-  Rachel and Emma have been meeting regularly for two years but New Year's Eve will be their last night together - Rachel is moving to Tokyo for a 2 year assignment and continuing their long distance relationship is not practical.  Emma wants more but Rachel has refused.  Rachel believes she is not long term relationship material; that eventually everyone will leave her, so she does the leaving first.   I've not read very much f/f but I found this story to be sexy and enjoyable (albeit that the tongue biting was a bit ouchy for me) - which, given that I'm a hero-centric reader and there was nary a hero in sight in this story, says something.  I did think that Rachel's motivation for being so relationship averse was a bit underdeveloped and she did make a quick turnaround in the circumstances, but I think both of those things are probably more about the length of the format.  What I did like especially, was the way it was shown that the pain in their sex play was a quite different pain to the emotional pain Emma was experiencing at the imminent death of their relationship - I've probably not worded that well, because it sounds so obvious reading it back, but I can't come up with a better explanation I'm afraid.